Sheppard's Island
by quasifictionalist
Summary: The group of 35 are heading to the remote, abandoned Sheppard's Island for what should have been a beautiful wedding.  But then the guests begin disappearing one-by-one.  A story inspired by Harper's Island.
1. Chapter 00:  Character List

**This is my attempt at a "murder mystery wedding on a remote island" story. I really enjoyed Harper's Island and wanted to write a similar story. This story does not have any of the characters from Harper's Island, as the story was complex enough and I didn't want the added burden of trying to keep HI characters similar to who they were on HI. I am considering writing a sequel/alternative version of HI, depending on how this story goes. It has been a while since I have written a fiction, so I may be rusty.**

**The story I am rating Mature, because it contains graphic, gory violence, strong sexual situations, and course language. This story will contain at least one death per chapter. In the story, I am certainly trying to focus on character development over the mystery aspect.**

**Anyways, I really hope you all enjoy this story.**

**Sheppard's Island**

The weekend has finally arrived where Christina and Robert will celebrate there nuptials with friends and family. But someone seems to be trying to destroy this wonderful occasion through murder. Thirty-five people will be on the remote Sheppard's Island for the wedding. Will anyone make it back?

* * *

**The Bride and Groom**

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* * *

**

**Christina Evans (Chrissy)** The Bride

_Age:_ 22

_Height:_ 5'2"

_Weight:_ 145 lbs

_Hair color:_ Light Brown

_Eye color:_ Blue

_Complexion:_ Light Tan

_Physical Description:_ Rounded, pear shaped figure with wavy hair to her mid-back. Dresses conservative.

_Background:_ Christina, who everyone calls Chrissy, is the beautiful bride. Growing-up, she was the shy middle child, with two older sisters and two younger sisters. She decided to move across country to go to school, where her roommate, Emily, introduced her to Robert. They have been going out ever since, but waited until after her graduation to marry.

* * *

**Robert Philips (Bobby)** The Groom

_Age:_ 23

_Height: _5'11"

_Weight: _185 lbs.

_Hair color: _Black

_Eye color: _Brown

_Complexion: _Light Tan

_Facial hair: _Clean Shave

_Physical Description: _Muscular, V-shaped body with short blended hair. Dresses nice.

_Background: _Robert, who everyone calls Bobby, is the lucky groom. Robert lost his parents to a car crash when he was only 9, and was raised by his uncle, Allen. He met Chrissy through Vic and Emily, and fell completely in love with her. Robert can be a bit shy, which is why he and Christina hit it off so well.

* * *

**The Friends of the Bride and Groom**

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* * *

**

**Emily Stone** The Maid-of-Honor

_Age:_ 22

_Height: _5'7"

_Weight: _130 lbs.

_Hair color: _ Dark Brown

_Eye color: _Brown

_Complexion: _Moderate Tan

_Physical Description: _Athletic, hourglass shaped figure with straight hair to her mid-back. Dresses casual.

_Background: _Emily was Christina's roommate freshmen year of college, and they have been friends ever since. Her and her ex-boyfriend Victor introduced Christina and Robert. Emily is very outgoing and is always there for her friends. She is the one who kept her group of friends together throughout college.

* * *

**Victor Ford (Vic) **The Best Man

_Age:_ 24

_Height: _6'1"

_Weight: _175 lbs.

_Hair color: _Dark Blonde

_Eye color: _Hazel

_Complexion: _Dark Tan

_Facial hair: _Clean Shave

_Physical Description: _Muscular, V-shaped body with long, straight hair to his neck. Dresses trendy.

_Background: _Victor, who is called Vic by his friends, is Robert best friend. Victor is very outgoing, and became friends with Robert working at a retail store with him. Robert was very shy at the time, and Victor took him under his wing. Victor can be obnoxious, which is why Emily broke up with him.

* * *

**Allison Little (Alli)** The Athlete

_Age:_ 22

_Height: _5'10"

_Weight: _160 lbs.

_Hair color: _Brown

_Eye color: _Blue

_Complexion: _Dark Tan

_Physical Description: _Very athletic, straight figure with straight hair to her shoulders. Dress appropriate for the occasion, but wears sporty cloths when she can.

_Background: _Allison is the athlete of the group. She is very competitive, and will turn almost any activity into a contest. She likes pushing her friends at physical activities. She is very close to Christina, and is honored to be a bridesmaid.

* * *

**Bruce Kemp** The Partier

_Age:_ 23

_Height: _6'0"

_Weight: _145 lbs.

_Hair color: _Black

_Eye color: _Brown

_Complexion: _Black

_Facial hair: _Goatee with Moustache

_Physical Description: _Slim, athletic body with a short afro cut. Always dresses as if he were going to a club.

_Background: _Bruce was the constant partier in college, but still managed to get through with good grades. He has been friends with Robert since they were roommates freshmen year in college. Along with Victor, Bruce is Robert's only really close friend.

* * *

**Mary Medina** The Sullen

_Age:_ 22

_Height: _5'5"

_Weight: _135 lbs.

_Hair color: _Dark Brown

_Eye color: _Brown

_Complexion: _Light Brown

_Physical Description: _Trim, pear shaped figure with wavy hair to her mid-back. Dresses in a manner that is consistent with her bleak outlook.

_Background: _Mary can often have a very bleak view of things. In many ways, Mary wants to move past college, and is aggravated that in the few months since graduation, things have remained the same. Mary has been friends with Christina since they were freshman in college.

* * *

**Robin Newton** The Loudmouth

_Age:_ 22

_Height: _5'5"

_Weight: _135 lbs.

_Hair color: _Light Blonde

_Eye color: _Hazel

_Complexion: _Moderate Tan

_Physical Description: _Athletic, hourglass figure with straight hair to her mid-back. Dresses in casual, revealing clothes.

_Background: _Robin is a good person with one primary flaw, she often does not think before she speaks. She blames herself for Julie's and Mary's falling out, because she said things to Mary that Julie had told her in confidence. Robin has been friends with Emily and others since her freshman year of college.

* * *

**Adam Nash** The Flake

_Age:_ 21

_Height: _5'11"

_Weight: _210 lbs.

_Hair color: _Brown

_Eye color: _Green

_Complexion: _Dark Tan

_Facial hair: _Shaved a few days ago

_Physical Description: _Overweight apple body shape with straight hair to his shoulders. Always looks unkempt.

_Background: _Adam is known for his lateness and unreliability. He has been friends with Robert since they worked together at a retail store in college. He moved back in with his parents upon dropping out of college, and he is currently unemployed after being fired from his last job.

* * *

**Theresa Fleming** The Photographer

_Age:_ 22

_Height: _5'2"

_Weight: _100 lbs.

_Hair color: _Black

_Eye color: _Brown

_Complexion: _Light Tan

_Physical Description: _Petite, tube shaped body with straight hair to her mid-neck. Dresses in casual attire.

_Background: _Theresa is a member of the same clique as Christina, but they are not very close. When she heard that Christina and Robert were getting married, she offered to photograph the wedding for free.

* * *

**Raymond Cunningham (Ray)** The Go-Getter

_Age:_ 23

_Height: _6'0"

_Weight: _170 lbs.

_Hair color: _Black

_Eye color: _Green

_Complexion: _Moderate Tan

_Facial hair: _Clean Shave

_Physical Description: _Athletic, V-shaped body with short, blended hair. Dresses preppy.

_Background: _Raymond is very ambitious, and looking forward to starting his carrier. He has not told his friends yet, but he has accepted a job with a firm across the country, and does not expect to see any of them after this weekend for a very long time. He and Robert are friends, but they are not very close, and he was surprised to be asked to be a groomsmen.

* * *

**Sara O'Conner** The Snob

_Age:_ 21

_Height: _5'7"

_Weight: _130 lbs.

_Hair color: _Red

_Eye color: _Green

_Complexion: _Light w/ Many Freckles

_Physical Description: _Skinny, hourglass figure with wavy hair to her mid-back. Always dresses in nice, expensive clothes.

_Background: _Sara is Raymond's girlfriend, and she thinks she is superior to most of his friends, and in fact most everyone. Sara has not really gotten to know Raymond's friends very well before this event.

* * *

**Laura Burke** The Air Head

_Age:_ 22

_Height: _5'6"

_Weight: _140 lbs.

_Hair color: _Blonde

_Eye color: _Blue

_Complexion: _Dark Tan

_Physical Description: _Trim, pear shaped body with straight hair to her mid-back. Dresses in semi-casual attire.

_Background: _Laura is sort of a ditz, and everyone was surprised when she married an intellectual. Laura and Eugene were just married a few months ago. She is not close to the other members of the clique, and probably would not have been invited to Christina and Robert's wedding except she invited both of them to her and Eugene's 500 guest wedding.

* * *

**Eugene Burke** The Graduate

_Age:_ 24

_Height: _5'9"

_Weight: _150 lbs.

_Hair color: _Black

_Eye color: _Brown

_Complexion: _Dark Tan

_Facial hair: _Soul Patch

_Physical Description: _Thin, straight body shape with short, curly hair. Dresses nice.

_Background: _Eugene is a graduate student, hoping to become a university professor in history. He is newlywed to Laura, and they are still in the after-glow of their wedding. Eugene is barely an acquaintance of Laura's friends.

* * *

**Julie Graves** The Outcast

_Age:_ 22

_Height: _5'6"

_Weight: _135 lbs.

_Hair color: _Dark Blonde

_Eye color: _Brown

_Complexion: _Light Tan

_Physical Description: _Slender, tube shaped figure with shoulder length, wavy hair. Dresses casual.

_Background: _Julie has not hung out with the clique since her and Mary had an argument about a year ago. She was hesitant to come, but decided to go to the wedding to be there for Christina.

* * *

**Tom Lane** The Stranger

_Age:_ 22

_Height: _5'10"

_Weight: _155 lbs.

_Hair color: _Light Brown

_Eye color: _Dark Brown

_Complexion: _Light Tan

_Facial hair: _Perpetual 5 O'clock Shadow

_Physical Description: _Slightly athletic, straight body shape with short, blended hair. Dresses business casual.

_Background: _Tom is Julie's boyfriend of the last several months, and he has not met anyone at the wedding before. Julie did not want Tom to come, since he would not know anyone, but Tom insisted on going to be moral support for Julie.

* * *

**The Bride's Family**

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* * *

**

**Hurbert Evans** The Father-of-the-Bride

_Age:_ 55

_Height: _5'9"

_Weight: _205 lbs.

_Hair color: _Grey

_Eye color: _Blue

_Complexion: _Light Tan

_Facial hair: _Clean Shave

_Physical Description: _Overweight, apple shaped body with short hair. Dresses nice for cheap.

_Background: _Hurbert is the patriarch of the Evans clan, and is ecstatic that his middle daughter is getting married. Being the only male in a household full of women has left him tuckered out.

* * *

**Pamela Evans** The Mother-of-the-Bride

_Age:_ 57

_Height: _5'5"

_Weight: _175 lbs.

_Hair color: _Grey/Brown

_Eye color: _Blue

_Complexion: _Light

_Physical Description: _Slightly overweight, pear shaped figure with curly hair to her chin. Dresses nice, but slightly older fashions.

_Background: _Pamela is the matriarch of the Evans family. She has always encouraged her daughters to be their own people, and is very happy with how each of them has turned out.

* * *

**Amy Marshall** The Tyrant

_Age:_ 29

_Height: _5'8"

_Weight: _150 lbs.

_Hair color: _Dark Blonde

_Eye color: _Blue

_Complexion: _Moderate Tan

_Physical Description: _Slightly rounded, hourglass figure with wavy hair to her mid-back. Dress nice and always looks well groomed.

_Background: _Amy is the oldest of Hurbert and Pamela's daughters. Because she was the oldest, she often bossed around her younger siblings, who think of her as a tyrant. She has mellowed as she has grown older, but can still be quite bossy to her sisters. She is married to Daniel, and the mother of Melissa and Joseph. She married Daniel when she was only 19, swept off her feet by his charm and his status.

* * *

**Denise Arnold** The Peacekeeper

_Age:_ 25

_Height: _5'6"

_Weight: _160 lbs.

_Hair color: _Light Blonde

_Eye color: _Blue

_Complexion: _Light

_Physical Description: _7 months pregnant with straight hair to her mid-back. Dresses comfortable.

_Background: _Denise is the second oldest daughter of Hurbert and Pamela, and is the peacekeeper of the Evans sisters. She is calm and cool under pressure, and very empathetic. She is the closest with Christina of any of her sisters. She married her husband last year, and is 7 months pregnant with their first child.

* * *

**Amber Evans** The Tease

_Age:_ 18

_Height: _5'9"

_Weight: _130 lbs.

_Hair color: _Dark Blonde

_Eye color: _Blue

_Complexion: _Dark Tan

_Physical Description: _Lean, hourglass figure with straight hair that goes past her shoulders. Often dresses provocatively, but not cheap.

_Background: _Amber is the next-to-youngest daughter of Hurbert and Pamela, and Christina's sister. She is a beautiful young woman, who uses her looks to get attention. Although she is known as a tease, she may be the smartest of her family.

* * *

**Nicole Evans (Nicky)** The Risk Taker

_Age:_ 15

_Height: _5'3"

_Weight: _110 lbs.

_Hair color: _Blonde

_Eye color: _Blue

_Complexion: _Moderate Tan

_Physical Description: _Athletic, tube shaped body with shoulder length wavy hair. Dresses in sporty attire.

_Background: _Nicole, who is called Nicky by everyone, is the risk taker of her family. She loves sports and adventure. Like her sisters, she is good looking, but does not really spend time looking nice. She is known for being very perceptive.

* * *

**Daniel Marshall** The Mogul

_Age:_ 40

_Height: _5'11"

_Weight: _175 lbs.

_Hair color: _Light Brown

_Eye color: _Green

_Complexion: _Moderate Tan

_Facial hair: _Clean Shave

_Physical Description: _Muscular, V-shaped body with high-and-tight hair. Dresses very expensive.

_Background: _Daniel has had great success in business. Daniel is cocky and has a sense of entitlement. He is married to Amy, and the father of Melissa and Joseph. He is not liked by his wife's family, and he is not enthusiastic about spending the weekend with them.

* * *

**Kyle Arnold** The Good Son-In-Law

_Age:_ 25

_Height: _5'11"

_Weight: _215 lbs.

_Hair color: _Light Brown

_Eye color: _Brown

_Complexion: _Light

_Facial hair: _Clean Shave

_Physical Description: _Pudgy, apple shaped body from recent weight gain with buzz cut. Dresses nice.

_Background: _Kyle is Denise's husband, and is well liked by all in the Evans family. Kyle is very polite and hard working, and looking forward to spending the wedding weekend with his wife and her family.

* * *

**Casey Hicks** The Boyfriend

_Age:_ 18

_Height: _5'10"

_Weight: _145 lbs.

_Hair color: _Brown

_Eye color: _Brown

_Complexion: _Light Tan

_Facial hair: _Goatee

_Physical Description: _Scrawny, tube shaped body with straight hair to the top of his ears. Dresses very casual, and wears sunglasses often when not needed.

_Background: _Casey is Amber's current boyfriend, at least for the last few months. He is totally in love with her and wants the relationship to go to the next level. Like all of Amber's boyfriends, Hurbert does not like him.

* * *

**Melissa Marshall (Lissa) **The Flower girl

_Age:_ 9

_Height: _4'0"

_Weight: _55 lbs.

_Hair color: _Dark Blonde

_Eye color: _Green

_Complexion: _Light /w some freckles

_Physical Description: _Skinny child's body with straight hair to her mid-back.

_Background: _Melissa, who is called Lissa by many in her family, is an outgoing, adventurous little girl. She is Daniel and Amy's daughter. She will be the flower girl at the wedding.

* * *

**Joseph Marshall (Joey)** The Ring bearer

_Age:_ 6

_Height: _3'8"

_Weight: _40 lbs.

_Hair color: _Light Blonde

_Eye color: _Blue

_Complexion: _Light /w some freckles

_Physical Description: _Typical, slightly skinny, child's body with straight hair to his ears.

_Background: _Joseph, who is called Joey by many in his family, is a shy little boy, who sometimes whines to get what he wants. He is Daniel and Amy's son. He will be the ring bearer at the wedding.

* * *

**The Groom's Family**

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* * *

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**Allen Philips** The Reverend

_Age:_ 53

_Height: _5'8"

_Weight: _175 lbs.

_Hair color: _Grey/Black

_Eye color: _Brown

_Complexion: _Moderate Tan

_Facial hair: _Clean Shave

_Physical Description: _Slightly overweight, yet muscular V-shaped body with crew-cut hair. Dresses in humble, black clothes.

_Background: _Allen is Robert's and Lewis' adopted father, and a reverend. He adopted Robert, who is actually his nephew, at age 9 after his parents died in a car crash. He adopted Lewis at age 11 after Lewis' parents disappeared and abandoned Lewis. Allen has never been married, and devotes his life to his church and his two adopted sons. He will be the reverend for the wedding.

* * *

**Lewis Philips** The Loner

_Age:_ 17

_Height: _5'10"

_Weight: _125 lbs.

_Hair color: _Black

_Eye color: _Brown

_Complexion: _Pale

_Physical Description: _Skinny, tube shaped body with straight hair that often covers his eyes. Dress in dark colors, but not quite goth.

_Background: _Lewis is Allen's adopted son. Lewis is an introverted loner, who likes to read and keeps to himself. He is only close to his adopted father and brother.

* * *

**Courtney Philips (Cort)** The Estranged

_Age:_ 58

_Height: _5'9"

_Weight: _325 lbs.

_Hair color: _Grey

_Eye color: _Brown

_Complexion: _Light, with numerous liver spots

_Facial hair: _Full, unkept Beard and Moustache

_Physical Description: _Morbidly obese, balding, with the remnants of his hair slicked back. Dresses in what looks like shirts he has owned for a few decades.

_Background: _Cortney is Reverend Allen's estranged brother, who he has not spoken to in years. Reverend Allen asked Robert to invite him, and was surprised when he accepted the invitation. Courtney is a quite, eccentric hermit.

* * *

**Others**

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* * *

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**Janice Owens** The Owner of the Inn

_Age:_ 34

_Height: _5'6"

_Weight: _160 lbs.

_Hair color: _Brown

_Eye color: _Blue

_Complexion: _Light Tan

_Physical Description: _Pear shaped body with curly, shoulder length hair. Dress in business casual attire.

_Background: _Janice inherited the bed and breakfast from her parents, who died in a boat accident a few months ago. She has no interest in running the inn, and is hoping to sell it soon. This wedding is one of the final reservations booked by her parents that she is honoring.

* * *

**Kimberly Wade** The Maid

_Age:_ 20

_Height: _5'7"

_Weight: _140 lbs.

_Hair color: _Light Brown

_Eye color: _Hazel

_Complexion: _Moderate Tan

_Physical Description: _Slim, tube shaped body with wavy hair to her shoulders. Dresses in tee-shirt and jeans.

_Background: _Kimberly is a college sophomore, who thinks her summer job working as a maid for a remote island bed-and-breakfast is about the perfect job.

* * *

**Tina Elliott** The Caterer

_Age:_ 31

_Height: _5'5"

_Weight: _140 lbs.

_Hair color: _Black

_Eye color: _Blue

_Complexion: _Dark

_Physical Description: _Chubby, apple shaped figure with straight, short hair. Dresses in chefs clothes.

_Background: _Tina is the caterer for the wedding. Her typical job is as a sous-chef for a restaurant, and is not looking forward to all the work catering a wedding will take.

* * *

**Troy Curtis** The Ferry Driver

_Age:_ 48

_Height: _6'2"

_Weight: _225 lbs.

_Hair color: _Grey/Black

_Eye color: _Dark Brown

_Complexion: _Leathery

_Facial hair: _Full Beard and Moustache

_Physical Description: _Doesn't care how he looks, he's here to work.

_Background: _Troy has been hired to ferry the wedding party to and from the island. He is hoping not to have much interaction with anyone, just wants to do the job and get paid.

* * *

**Dorothy Rose** The Stripper

_Age:_ 25

_Height: _5'8"

_Weight: _130 lbs.

_Hair color: _Dark Brown

_Eye color: _Light Brown

_Complexion: _Moderate Tan

_Physical Description: _Sexy, hourglass figure with wavy hair to her mid-back. Dresses in t-shirt and jeans when not working.

_Background: _Dorothy has been hired as entertainment for the bachelor party. She doesn't mind being a stripper, and the occasional extra tasks she performs, because she likes the money it generates.


	2. Chapter 01: Bzzzzz

**AN: Not much to say that wasn't said at the beginning of the character list chapter. Typically, I will list what characters are still alive at the start of chapters, but obviously, everyone is alive to begin with.**

**So this is the start of the story, hope you all enjoy.**

**

* * *

**

**Prolog**

The killer was sitting at the desk looking over the photographs and the maps. So many possibilities! The killer just needed to make some final decisions and preparations. Notes were scattered around with different ideas of how each victim should die, and when, and where. There would be a lot of improvising, of course, but the killer got a thrill from planning all the same. The guest list had been easy to obtain, and the killer had started gathering information on all of the guests as soon as the wedding was announced. It had taken months, but everything was set. By the end of the weekend, the island would become known for one of the worst, most gruesome, massacres ever.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Bzzzzz**

Emily sat in the driver's seat of her car trying to get up her nerve. She hated water. Not like swimming pools or beaches and such, but certainly being on boats on large bodies of water. Getting to the wedding required a ferry ride, something that Emily did not prefer. She had been to the island a few times before, and this part was always difficult. She closed her eyes and began taking deep breaths.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

Emily jumped in her seat, and let out a quiet shout. It was Vic. He had tapped his ring against her window, far harder then necessary. She took one last deep breath, then opened her door quickly, causing Vic to jump backwards.

"Easy killer!" Vic said. "Nerves getting the best of you?"

"Whatever. I was wondering when on this trip you would first piss me off. Surprising that it would be before we made it onto the boat."

"Well, you know me, I'm always surprising. Bet you want me to help you with your bags."

"The last thing the world I want is anything from you… I'd thought I had made that clear."

"Anyways, guess I'll see you on board," Vic said as he picked his bags up.

"Have you seen anyone else yet?" Emily asked. Emily hated Vic, but talking to him kept her mind off the water.

"Yup, been here for a while. Bobby and Bruce are here. And Chrissy, Alli, Mary, and Robin. Chrissy has been looking for you. Still waiting on Bobby's and Chrissy's familys, and a few others."

Emily grunted some acknowledgment that she had heard what Vic had said, she really wanted to be here sooner for Chrissy, being that she was the maid-of-honor, but she had to stop driving several times to calm herself. She continued to get luggage out of her car's trunk.

Vic continued, "Bruce, Adam, and I drove up last night and stayed at a hotel. We got so messed-up at the clubs that we barely woke up this morning. Still haven't seen Adam this morning."

"You didn't wake him up?" Emily asked reproachfully.

"I'm not his mommy," Vic said defensively. "If he's late for the boat, that's his problem."

Emily had finally loaded herself with all of her stuff. She really could have used help, but was too proud to ask. Vic certainly was not going to help, unless she begged. They began walking towards the boat with an awkward silence.

* * *

Hurbert pulled his car into the parking lot, and along with Pamela and Nicky. "Nicky… Nicky, turn off that music now and help me with the luggage will you," Pamela said to her daughter.

"OK mom."

They all exited the car and began unloading. "You two leave the heavier bags; I'll bring them up in a bit. I want to wait here until Amber gets here," Hurbert said.

"They'll be fine you know," Pamela said.

"There was nothing fine about how that boy was driving, and why aren't they here yet?" Hurbert had insisted that they all come together, but Amber had refused. At 18, Amber was going to have her independence, and she didn't care so much what her old man had to say about it. "If I'm going to give them a talking to, it's better here then up on the boat."

"Well I can't argue with that," Pamela said. "Come on Nicky, let's go track down Chrissy."

Pamela and Nicky were off, and Hurbert closed up his car. He stood there for several minutes before Casey, Amber's current no-good boyfriend, finally pulled up. Amber and Casey exited the car both smiling and laughing. "You two were supposed to stay just ahead of us. How the heck did you get behind us with how fast you tore out of the rental car agency?" Hurbert said angrily. Hurbert had hoped that the rental car place would put a stop to the idea of these two 18 year-olds being entrusted with a car, but they hadn't. Of course he had to pay, just like he had to pay for her twit boyfriend's plane ticket.

"Sorry daddy, I was hungry, so we stopped for some snacks," Amber said nonchalantly.

"Grandpa!" Hurbert's attention was pulled away by his grandchildren's screams as they came running to him. His attitude completely changed as he gave them both a big hug. He had been so mad that he had not seen his oldest daughter, Amy, and her family pull into the parking lot. Amy was walking towards them, while her husband, Daniel, began unpacking the large rental SUV. He, of course, didn't acknowledge Hurbert.

"What, no love for me?" Amber said. The children rushed over and hugged her. She kissed them both and said "You two are getting so big!"

"Hey Dad," Amy said as she gave her father a warm, long hug.

"Hey Sweatheart," Hurbert said, "how was you're trip here."

"OK, it took a little while to get the kids going this morning, but we made it." Amy had known better then to fly in the morning they needed to be here with two children, and instead they had flown in the previous night and stayed in a hotel.

"Hey Amber," Amy said as here and Amber exchanged a tepid hug. "It's been a while since we've seen you."

"Yup," was Amber's only response.

"I think I've got everything," Casey said. Casey was carrying both his and Amber's luggage.

"Casey, baby, this is my sister Amy, and… what were these twos names again?" Amber said inquisitively.

"Auntie Amber!" both children said in-between giggles.

"Oh yeah, this one is Melissa, and this one is Joseph," Amber said. Casey acknowledged all three with a brief nod.

"Sweeties, why don't you head up to the boat with Grandpa? Amber, would you come help Daniel and I with our luggage?" Amber didn't want to, but she did not want to earn the wrath of her oldest sister. She, with Amy, headed to Amy's car to get the luggage, while Hurbert, Casey, Lissa, and Joey headed to the boat.

* * *

Allen turned off the car. Lewis was about to open the door, when Allen stopped him. "Lewis, real quick, can we talk for a moment before we walk to the boat."

"Sure Dad, what's up?" Lewis asked, hesitantly.

"I just wanted to, you know, ask that you try really hard this weekend to talk to everyone," Allen said. It had been a pleasant drive over with Lewis, which had caused Allen to wait to the last moment to bring up the topic of his adopted son's shyness.

"I'll talk to people," Lewis said dismissively.

"You know what I mean. I'm sure all of Bobby's friends are really nice, and some of Chrissy's family members are around your age." Allen wasn't sure if this last admission helped or hurt the situation. Allen knew his youngest was a complete loner. Allen could not name one time when Lewis had mentioned a single friend, other then mentioning people he had worked with on school projects. Allen had seen his youngest in social situations, such as at his church, and it was simply painful to watch. Lewis just never initiated conversation with anyone, and usually looked like he wanted to bolt if anyone talked to him.

"I will," Lewis said quietly. It always hurt Lewis when this topic came up. He wanted his adopted father to be proud of him. Lewis didn't have a lot going for him, but this was what he knew was his greatest of shortcomings. Allen put a reassuring hand on Lewis' shoulder.

"Thank you Lewis. OK, we can go," Allen said hopefully.

* * *

"So you're sure you want to go? It's pretty much now or never. One word and we can pull this car out of here and not look back," Tom joked. He knew Julie wanted to go through with this, but just needed some reassurance from him.

Julie gave a soft laugh. It had been a difficult decision for her on whether to come or not. The falling out that she had with her friends almost a year ago had been painful. She had only really talked to Chrissy and Emily since, but had not even spoken to those two very much. She had felt, right or wrong, that her friends had chosen Mary's side over hers. Distance from her friends had made it increasing difficult to reconnect, even though the year had given her a different perspective on her fight with Mary.

Julie felt at her core that this might be the last time she saw any of her old friends. That this weekend would expose the fact that their friendship could not be rekindled. But she refused to have her friendship, with Chrissy and Emily at least, end because she wasn't there for Chrissy's big moment.

"Seriously, if you don't say were leaving, you are going to have to get out of the car."

"Huh," Julie said, being pulled out of her own thoughts. "No, were staying." She turned her head to Tom and gave him a long kiss, which he returned. "Thank you for being here for me, I don't think I could have come here without you. Let's go."

* * *

It had been a great day so far for Chrissy. Although she typically hated and avoided being the center of attention, she was loving every moment of everyone being here for her today. Most all of her friends were already here, and most of her family had arrived. She gave her parents big hugs. She did not get to see them very often these days, since the rest of her family lived across the country.

Her younger sisters had come over with her niece and nephew, who she rarely saw, to where her and her friends had gathered. She had introduced them, and they of course had gushed over how adorable her niece and nephew were. Lissa had loved every moment of being called "pretty" by the young women, while Joey blushed shyly at being called "cute". Chrissy had even talked to her oldest sister, Amy, and even that had been reasonably pleasant.

Julie had come over and said hello to everyone, which was awkward, but Chrissy knew how hard it was for her to do that. She had given Julie a big hug and thanked her so much for being here. She finally had a chance to meet Tom, which she had been looking forward to. He seemed nice, and Julie and Tom seemed happy together.

Her and her friends continued to talk as Julie and Tom slowly pulled away from the conversation to be by themselves. Chrissy saw that Emily still looked nervous, and she put her arm around her. "I can't believe with how many times you have been to this island that you still get scared over the boat ride," Chrissy said jokingly.

"I'm sorry, boats and I have just never gotten along."

"How did Vic ever convince you to come to this island the first time? I mean did he drug and kidnap you, or blindfold you or something?"

"It wasn't easy, but you know Vic, if he wants to do something he doesn't let it go," Emily said frankly.

"Well that will be two things in my life that I'll always be thankful to Vic for," Chrissy said, eliciting an unsure look from Emily. "One, if Vic hadn't known Bobby, I don't know if we would have ever met. And two, if he hadn't brought you to this island, you wouldn't have suggested that we all go for that weekend two years ago. And I would never have known that such a perfect place existed to have my wedding.

"So here's to Vic," Chrissy said, raising the wine glass in her hand, "he may not be good for anything else but these two things. But these two things were pretty important to me."

Emily gave her a warm smile, knowing that implicit in Chrissy's statement was a thank you to her. Emily, Alli, Mary, and Robin raised their wine glasses as well and clinked them with Chrissy's. "To Vic," they all said. This caused Vic to turn his head towards the women. Knowing that he was being talked about by Emily and her friends wiped the smile off his face, if only for a moment.

Chrissy scanned over the boat and saw that Denise had arrived with her husband. She set her wine glass down and excused herself and ran over to her older sister. Denise had already said hello to the rest of the family by the time Chrissy had noticed her. Chrissy and Denise gave each other a big, very long hug, made only slightly awkward by Denise's pregnant belly. When they both pulled away, they both had water in their eyes. Of all of her family, Chrissy was most excited to see Denise. Chrissy and Amy had never gotten along, with Amy always being the one who bossed everyone around. Amber and Nicky were close with each other, and although Chrissy got along with them she had never been exceptionally close to either. Denise got along very well with all of her sisters, even Amy, to an extent. But Chrissy and Denise had always been tight. Though they lived across the country from one-another, they talked all the time on the phone.

Chrissy gave Kyle a big hug, "I see you got her here safe."

"Of course," replied Kyle, "sorry I got her here a bit late."

"You two are fine, but I'm going to steal Denise away for a bit. Come on sis, I wanted to have you meet the rest of the girls here." They walked back to her friends.

* * *

Reverend Allen stood with his son, Lewis. He and Lewis had been introduced to all of Bobby's friends, and Allen had left Lewis with his brother while he had made the rounds of the boat introducing himself to everyone. Lewis had snuck away from Bobby and Bobby's friends, and was now back standing beside the reverend.

Allen was watching the entrance to the boat when Cortney arrived. Cortney had gained 75 pounds since Allen had last seen him, and aged significantly, so it took Allen a second to recognize his older brother. Allen looked to Lewis and told him to come with him as he made his way to Cort, who stood at the entrance of the boat uneasily.

"Hi Cort," Allen said warmly.

"Hey Allen, its great to see you. I'm happy I'm here," Cort answered a question that hadn't been asked. Cort had always been a bit strange, and Allen could tell that that had not changed.

"Cort it's good to see you to, and I am so happy you came. I wanted to introduce you to my son Lewis."

"Hi Lewis, good to meet you, call me Uncle Cort, or just Cort," Cort said shaking Lewis' hand briskly. "Where's Bobby?" Cort wouldn't recognize Bobby if they bumped into each other on the street. The last time Cort had seen Bobby was when Bobby was 9 years-old, at Bobby's mother and father's funeral. Cort had been devastated by his younger sister's death. He was an eccentric man before that, but Melinda's death had left him without any urge to engage with the world.

Allen had tried over the years to communicate with his brother. When Cort still had a phone, Allen would call, but Cort would not answer. Allen sent Cort letters, which Cort rarely replied to. Even when he did reply, Cort's letters were friendly, but brief. The one time Allen had tried to visit Cort, no one answered at his house, even though Allen suspected Cort was inside.

Allen had invited Cort to events, like Bobby's graduations, but Cort always declined to come. Allen had asked Bobby, as a special favor, to invite Cort to the wedding. Bobby was hesitant, since space would be limited and he didn't really know his uncle at all, but Bobby had agreed to invite him. Both he and Bobby were shocked when Cort RSVP that he would come.

"Well, that's Bobby over there, lets go say hi," Allen said.

"Actually, he looks busy," Cort said cautiously, "would you mind if I say hi to him a bit later. Can we just stay here and talk a bit."

"Sure, that would be alright." Allen and Cort's conversation continued, with many uneasy pauses, while Lewis remained with them mostly silent.

* * *

Troy, the boat driver, asked Bobby and Vic if everyone had finally arrived. Bobby and Vic scanned the crowd of people on the boat. Ray and his girlfriend Sara had arrived, and were standing with them. Sara was trying to extract Ray from his friends, but Ray was refusing to be pulled away. Theresa had also arrived, followed shortly by Eugene and Laura. Theresa was hanging out with Chrissy and her friends, while Eugene and Laura were off on their own. The caterer, Tina, had finished loading all of her supplies, and was now sitting by herself.

"That leaves only Adam," Bobby stated.

"So how long do you want to wait for him? Cause my vote is lazy gets left behind," replied Vic, causing Bruce and Ray to laugh.

"Dude, we can leave, I'll just text him and tell him to catch the boat tomorrow," Bruce said.

"What do you mean? There's no boat tomorrow," Bobby said.

"Nice one dumbass," Vic said to Bruce, then to Bobby, "Yes there is a boat tomorrow, and it will be carrying a very special surprise for you. But if you ask any questions, you won't get your surprise, and I'll be very angry."

"OK, OK. I guess that means we can go," Bobby said. Just then Adam bounded onto the boat.

"I'm so sorry I'm late guys," Adam said as he approached Vic, Bobby, and the others.

"You got here just in time," Vic said, "Bobby was just saying how we should leave your good-for-nothing ass behind."

"Hey," Bobby said, and then decided not to fight the point. "We're definitely all here now," he said to Troy.

Troy quickly unhooked the boat from the dock. He was very unhappy that they had been so delayed, and wanted very much to get out the island, get refueled, and back before sunset. He pulled the boat out of the harbor a bit too quickly, causing a jolt for all his passengers, but everyone was able to steady themselves.

The passengers remained in conversations with their various groups throughout the boat ride, with only a bit of intermixing of groups. It took about an hour to arrive at Sheppard's Island.

* * *

"I'm cleaning as fast as I can. It's not my fault that you did not schedule enough time to get all of the rooms clean," complained Kimberly to her boss, Janice.

"Just pick up the pace a bit. There's no chance we'll be ready by the time they get here, but I don't want to keep them waiting too long," Janice replied. "I'm going to head down to the dock to meet the boat, and will probably be back in about an hour. Just keep cleaning."

Janice quickly left, not wanting any more of the argument. She hated running this bed and breakfast, and was thankful that this was one of the final reservations that she had not been able to break. In fact, aside from this wedding, and a corporate group later this month that threatened to sue if there reservation was canceled, the Lighthouse Inn would be closed waiting on new management. Luckily there were some prospects on that end.

When her parents died in the boat accident a few months ago, she had taken over the inn. And what she had learned in the last few months was that she hated running an inn. The cleaning, the cooking, the tours, Janice had no idea how her parents had kept their sanity, just the two of them doing it all. Janice had hired Kimberly to help out over the summer getting the inn ready for the remaining reservations and to prospective buyers.

Janice got to her office and picked up the keys to the bus. She looked over the pictures of her husband and her children. Certainly the worst part was being half-way across the country from them, on some abandoned island. The telephone service on the island was intermittent, and she had not been able to convince the phone company to fix the issues, so it was never a sure thing when she wanted to talk to her family that she would be able to. And there certainly was no cell service. If it wasn't for the radio, they would have no consistent communication to the mainland.

The costs of services on the island were also horrible. Pool cleaning, repair of equipment and facilities, ect. all cost more because the boat ride and extra time the workers had to travel. She would never understand why her parents had such a passion for this place. Hopefully in a few months, this would be someone else's problem.

Janice boarded the old school bus. It had been painted white, and was what they used to get people from the dock to the inn and back. It was a bit to far to ask guests to walk. Janice turned the key and the engine turned but did not catch.

"Oh you better not do this to me," Janice said to the bus as she continues to turn the key. The engine finally fired, eliciting a sigh of relief from Janice. "Just a few more trips, that's all you have to give me. Just a few more trip."

* * *

Troy had made up significant time, but they were still half-an-hour later then expected. He had tried to radio Janice, but no one had answered, so Janice had been kept waiting at the dock for quite some time. When they docked, the passengers exited the boat in a much more efficient manner then they had boarded. It took a bit more time to actually load the bus with all of the passengers and their luggage.

Lissa had insisted on sitting with Nicky. Nicky loved her niece dearly, but when the girl started chattering on, she didn't stop. Amy, Daniel, and Joey sat in the seat in front of her, with Joey occasionally raising himself over his seat to make faces at Lissa, which Lissa returned. Nicky often babysat for her niece and nephew, as Amy's family only lived a few miles away from Nicky and their parents. This only began recently, though, as Amber had primarily had the duties before a few months ago. Nicky wasn't sure why Amber had stopped wanting to be a babysitter for Lissa and Joey, and as much as Nicky pressed, Amber wouldn't tell. Nicky knew something fairly serious had to have happened to cause the change, but she couldn't figure it out.

When Lissa would become distracted by her brother or something out the window of the bus, Nicky would take a chance to look around the bus. Nicky remembered the names of everyone she had been introduced to on the boat. Remembering names was a skill she was good at. Chrissy had reunited with her soon-to-be husband in a seat at the front of the bus. Nicky thought they looked so great together. Emily was sitting with Alli, and appeared much more relaxed now. Nicky had thought Emily was going to scream from her nerves on the boat, but she seemed better now. Nicky had instantly liked Alli, because she seemed really into sports.

A seat away from Emily and Alli were Ray and Sara. Ray seemed alright, but Sara seemed like she had no interest in being here. Nicky saw Vic and Bruce behind them. Bruce stood out because he looked like he was dressed for a night out on the town, instead of a boat ride. The seat next to them was Eugene and Laura, who reminded Nicky of kids in her high school who were all over each other.

Behind them were Mary and Robin. Robin was seemingly making a joke about something, which only she seemed to be laughing at, as Mary didn't seem to be in a laughing mood. Adam and Theresa were sitting across the aisle from Mary and Robin. Theresa was sitting by the window, but seemed to be trying to listen to what Robin was saying. She seemed angry to be sitting next to Adam, who looked asleep.

Behind Adam and Theresa was a very large man, who Nicky thought was related to Bobby. She had not been introduced to him. Behind the large man were Reverend Allen and Lewis. Reverend Allen seemed very nice, but Lewis seemed very shy. When she had heard that Bobby had a brother in high school, Nicky had hoped that he would be a bit less awkward. Nicky definitely got the impression that Lewis didn't want to hang out.

Nicky would normally hang out with Amber on a trip like this. Nicky looked to the seat behind her, where Amber and Casey were sitting. She could hang out with them all she wanted, but she doubted they would even know she was there. Amber was cool to hang out with. Even though Nicky knew her sister wasn't that into sports, she would go boogie boarding with her. And Amber could even make horrible things like shopping tolerable for her. Nicky had probably been the most angry in the family, even more then her father, when Amber insisted her boyfriend come on the trip.

Nicky's sister Denise and her husband were in the seat across the aisle from her. She was happy to see Denise, because she did not see her too often, but she imagined Denise would be with Chrissy a lot, and they wouldn't want her hanging out with them all the time.

Lissa continued to talk, telling Nicky about every animal that she had seen at the zoo the previous weekend. Nicky gave her a smile and a few affirmative grunts to let her niece know she was still listening.

Nicky stole a look to the back of the bus, where behind Amber sat their father and mother, who kept a watchful eye on her older sister and her boyfriend to make sure there was no inappropriate behavior. Then, oddly, she saw Julie and Tom sitting behind her mom and dad. That seemed odd because she thought they would have set in the front of the bus with their friends.

* * *

As they exited the bus and got, for some, their first look at the Lighthouse Inn, they were in awe of this large, majestic building in the middle of nowhere. The Lighthouse Inn was three stories tall, and although the name might make you think there was a lighthouse at the inn, it was too far inland for that.

Janice made an announcement in the lobby when they were all inside. "So I have a bit of bad news. I know you are all probably wanted to get to your rooms and freshen up, but not all of the rooms are ready yet. So four of you will need to come back here and pick up your keys in a couple of hours. Please feel free to use the bathroom down the hall here, or by the pool. The lounge area is to your right, and the doors in there lead to the back patio and the pool. To your left is the dining room and the kitchen.

"I believe you wanted dinner at 6:30 tonight," Janice looked to Chrissy and Bobby for reassurance, which they gave. "OK, also the kitchen is through the dining room. All of the food in there is yours, although the bride and groom will probably have your heads if you take anything meant for the wedding reception." A slight laugh went through the group. "There is an excellent selection of deli items and such, so feel free to make yourselves a sandwich."

Janice began handing out keys. Amy and Daniel receive theirs first, since they needed the "family" suite which was on the third floor. Since they were going to be on the third floor, the rest of the of the Evans family decided to be up there also. Nicky and Amber were going to share a room. Hurbert insisted that Casey's room be on the second floor, as if the stairs would act as a barrier from anything inappropriate happening between him and Amber. Hurbert and Pamela, and Denise and Kyle also had rooms on the third floor.

Chrissy was going to take the room that Bobby and she would share after the wedding. Out of respect for there parents; they decided to have separate rooms. This elicited laughs from Vic and Bruce, since it would be the first time in a long time since Chrissy and Bobby had slept apart. Emily, Alli, Mary, Theresa, and Robin would each have a room to themselves on the third floor, with Emily and Alli opting to take the two rooms on that floor that still needed to be cleaned.

Allen and Lewis would share a room on the second floor, with Cort in the room next to them. Bobby, Vic, Bruce, and Adam would have rooms to themselves on the second floor, with Ray and Sara, Eugene and Laura, and Julie and Tom each sharing rooms. Eugene made a joke about that being uncomfortable for the other couples, who were unwed, being that the Reverend would be on the same floor. A few laughed as a courtesy. Bruce opted to wait on his room, followed quickly by Cort, who gathered his bags and sat down in the lounge alone. More then a few people thought the weird smile that seemed painted on Cort's face was a bit creepy. Emily, Alli, and Bruce dug out there swimsuits from their luggage and headed for the pool, as everyone else headed for their rooms.

* * *

Adam went into his room and collapsed on the bed. He desperately needed a nap. He had hit it way to hard the night before trying to keep up with Bruce, and had learned that was a bad idea. He had barely had time to pack this morning, much less shower. Vic and Bruce had ridiculed him non-stop on the boat, since he was wearing the same clothes from the night before.

He looked to the bathroom and tried to decide whether he needed sleep more now or a bath. He laid there and pondered for a while.

* * *

"You have to admit, that wasn't so bad," Tom said as he wrapped his arms around Julie and gave the back of her neck a kiss.

"Nope, in my wildest dreams about how it would go, I certainly didn't think it would go nearly that well," Julie responded.

"So, are we heading down to the pool? I think that's where everyone else will be."

"Let's not push it. I think I just want to be alone with you right now. With maybe a relaxing bath."

Tom gave her neck another kiss, "That sounds good, I'm just going to head downstairs for a bit. I've been promised an excellent selection of sandwiches. I'll bring you back some if you promise to keep the water warm for me."

Julie turned around in his arm and gave him a long kiss. "It's a deal."

* * *

Eugene and Laura already had their clothes off, with Laura in bed and Eugene getting ready to hop in.

"Now, we do have to be a bit quite here. It cannot be like when we visited my parents," Eugene said in a mock stern voice. "There is a reverend here you know."

"What's he going to do to us, we're married? We can do whatever we want."

"I imagine he can use his powers of looking at us disapprovingly," Eugene said, causing both of them to laugh.

"Well, I think my noise level may depend a teeny-tiny bit on you."

"Well, that sounds like a challenge."

* * *

"Honey, do you mind getting the kids ready for the pool while I unpack a bit in here?" Amy asked Daniel.

"OK, but make sure to hang my dress clothes, I don't want them to be anymore wrinkled then they are." Daniel headed to the adjoining room of the suite.

Amy unzipped her bag and opened it. "What is this?" she thought. She opened the envelope, and pulled out the pictures. Her heart started beating very hard and very fast as she flipped through the pictures. Her hands shook as she unfolded the accompanying note. The note made her feel even worse.

"Joey wants his blow-up dolphin thing for the pool. Where is it?" Daniel said as he reentered the room. Amy quickly shoved the photos under some clothes in her suitcase.

"Oh, it's in that bag," she said, as cool as she could muster. She then remembered. "Oh, I'll get it."

"I'm perfectly capable of getting a toy out of a suitcase."

"I just packed everything right, and I don't want you to mess it up," she said, more sharply then she wanted to. Luckily, the deflated dolphin was near the top. She handed it to her husband, who went back to the children's room without a word.

Amy took a moment and calmed herself. She had to quickly find a hiding spot for the photos. She couldn't let her husband or children see them.

The worst part about the photos being in her suitcase was that, to her surprise, it meant that whoever had been sending her these things must have been on the boat. The thought sent a cold shiver through her and made her feel very alone.

* * *

The killer had checked both the second and the third floor. The killer wanted to make sure that the hallways were empty before proceeding to the target. The killer approached the door to the room.

The killer had a very special key. Traveling to the island when no one was here, and thanks to the fact that the inn owner did not lock all of the doors when she left the island, the killer had had time to duplicate all of the room keys. Studying the keys from similar locks, the killer had made a single key that would open all of the doors.

"With this," the killer thought, "I could butcher everyone here in their sleep tonight." It was an intoxicating feeling of power. The killer had no intension of doing that though. The killer wanted each death to be special. The killer wanted at least some time to appreciate the kills. The killer wanted to learn something from each one.

The killer opened the door to the room quietly, and stepped inside. The killer could hear the victim in the bathroom. Looking at the reflection in the mirror, the killer could see Adam standing naked in front of the mirror. The killer flattened against the wall. "That was close," the killer thought.

Adam did not seem to notice anything in the mirror. A number of people had mentioned to Adam that he needed a bath, on the boat and on the bus. The killer was very happy that Adam was going to take the advice.

The killer could hear the water splash a bit as Adam got into the bathtub. The killer's knife was left sheathed, as the killer pulled out what looked like a power cord. The killer's simple device was comprised of some innards from a power protector, an electric motor, and an extension chord. If the device works properly, it will draw power without shutting off, or knocking out the power to the hotel. The killer plugged the device in and stepped around the corner.

For a few moments, Adam was oblivious to the person who had entered the bathroom. When he did notice, all he was able to say was "whatcha got there…," before the killer soft tossed the devise on the end of the cord into the bathtub.

Adam's head shot backwards, hitting the bathtub rim hard enough to crack his skull and to start blood seeping out. "Damn," the killer thought, "I wanted this to be completely bloodless." A low buzzing noise could be heard. Adam convulsed a bit, but for the most part his body remained ridged. After a few minutes, the killer unplugged the device. The killer let the water out of the tub, cleaned the little bit of blood left on the rim, and pushed Adam's body deeper in the tub, so it wouldn't be so obvious. The killer rolled up the device and hid it in the room. The killer would come back later to move the body, when there was less chance of being seen.

* * *

**Deaths:**

**Adam Nash**** - The Flake**

**AN: So, there's chapter one. I hope you enjoyed and want more. I know it was not the most graphic death scene, but please be patient as it will get more gruesome. I really hope that I got enough information across about the characters to give you an idea of who they are. I was certainly surprised by the length, but felt it was necessary to get all the information across that I wanted to.**

**Now, here's my plea for reviews: please review. Positive, negative, or other. I am particularly interested in whether you like how the characters are being developed. I am also interested in whether there are characters you're rooting for to survive, and characters you're rooting for to die. But any feedback would be highly appreciated.**

**I will probably update again over the weekend with Chapter 2: Wheeze.**


	3. Chapter 02: Wheeze

**AN: I forgot to mention that this will be 13 chapters in my previous sections. Sorry I was not able to update over the weekend, but I got busy writing and did not feel like doing any editing.**

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* * *

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Spoilers below to previous chapters

* * *

Character's Still Alive:

**The Bride and Groom**

Christina Evans (Chrissy) - The Bride

Robert Philips (Bobby) - The Groom

**The Friends of the Bride and Groom**

Emily Stone - The Maid-of-Honor

Victor Ford (Vic) - The Best Man

Allison Little (Alli) - The Athlete

Bruce Kemp - The Partier

Mary Medina - The Sullen

Robin Newton - The Loudmouth

Theresa Fleming - The Photographer

Raymond Cunningham (Ray) - The Go-Getter

Sara O'Conner - The Snob

Laura Burke - The Air Head

Eugene Burke - The Graduate

Julie Graves - The Outcast

Tom Lane - The Stranger

**The Bride's Family**

Hurbert Evans - The Father-of-the-Bride

Pamela Evans - The Mother-of-the-Bride

Amy Marshall - The Tyrant

Denise Arnold - The Peacekeeper

Amber Evans - The Tease

Nicole Evans (Nicky) - The Risk Taker

Daniel Marshall - The Mogul

Kyle Arnold - The Good Son-In-Law

Casey Hicks - The Boyfriend

Melissa Marshall (Lissa) - The Flower girl

Joseph Marshall (Joey) - The Ring bearer

**The Groom's Family**

Allen Philips - The Reverend

Lewis Philips - The Loner

Courtney Philips (Cort) - The Estranged

**Others**

Janice Owens - The Owner of the Inn

Kimberly Wade - The Maid

Tina Elliott - The Caterer

Troy Curtis - The Ferry Driver

Dorothy Rose - The Stripper

* * *

Chapter 2: Wheeze

Kimberly continued to work as fast as she could. If Janice would just let her clean the rooms after the guests left, instead of waiting until they had guests arriving, they wouldn't be in this predicament. But Janice always wanted to leave as soon as the guests were gone so she could get home to her family. Kimberly always offered to stay on the island by herself to clean, but Janice did not want to pay for an extra boat trip. Kimberly doubted this time would be different.

Kimberly moved into the bathroom. She quickly looked around. The rooms had all been in pretty good shape, but Kimberly's ethics required that she be thorough, even if the room looked clean to start with. Kimberly filled a bucket with water and added some bleach. Kimberly had begged Janice to use a more pleasant smelling cleaner, but bleach was cheap and Janice said it smelled cleaner. If Kimberly had learned one thing from this summer of working with Janice, she had learned that Janice should not run an inn.

That's not to say that Kimberly did not like her job. For the money and the time commitment, this job was hard to beat. It was just times like now, when they were under a time-crunch, that Kimberly got a bit frustrated. Kimberly knew she just had one more room after this one, and she was done for the day. Janice had said her and the caterer would handle serving dinner, so Kimberly wouldn't be needed for that. Plus, it should still be nice enough out while the guests were at dinner to have a nice dip in the pool.

* * *

Robin knocked on Mary's door, and got a flat "just a minute" in reply. She looked around the empty hallway anxiously. She had tried to get ready as quickly as she could, and had hoped Mary would do the same. Robin desperately needed to be at the pool, where everyone else would be. She hated not being where the action was, in fear that something would happen and she wouldn't be the first to know. She adjusted her bright colored two-piece. She didn't really care what the boys thought of how she looked, because she didn't figure any of the available ones on the island were all that interested in her, but the last thing she wanted was for her friends to think she didn't look good in her bathing suit.

Mary finally opened her door. Mary was wearing a boring black one piece. Robin smiled to herself; at least there was one person who she would look better than. Mary was a beautiful woman, but she always dressed so drab. Robin could not understand why she didn't try harder to be attractive.

"What took so long?" Robin asked.

"It's not like the pool is going anywhere. It's not like anything important is going to happen just cause your not there." Robin recognized that Mary had been slipping into one of her moods. She could be vicious when she did, and she always knew what to say to stick a knife in.

"Well you look ready now, are you?" Robin tried to calm the conversation down again.

"Yeah, sure. It's not like there's anything better to do." They headed down to the pool.

* * *

Kimberly was washing the tub in her last room. "Just a few more minutes," she thought as she quickly scrubbed away, "and I'll be in my room taking a shower." Her knees ached from kneeling for much of the day. She reached over to turn on the water to rinse out the tub when she saw the shoes behind her. She looked up, but before she could see the persons face she felt a hand grab the back of her neck. She tried to scream, but was not able to get it out before her head was plunged into the bleach/water mixture in the bucket that set beside her. She screamed in the bucket, but it was muffled. She desperately tried to pull her head back, tried to claw at her attacker's glove covered hands, tried to push off of the floor, tried to knock the bucket over; but nothing would work as the hand that held her down stayed steady and firm. Her eyes and nose were burning. The scream she had let out in the bucket had left her unable to hold her breath for long, and her lungs wouldn't be refused any longer. She breathed in, sending the toxic mixture straight into her lungs. The pain was quick and horrific, as the lining of her lungs burned. Thankfully, it was not more then a few seconds after that when she lost consciousness and soon after passed away.

* * *

Bruce would never know why it took girls so long to change closes. He swore it only took him a minute to change into his swimming shorts in the pool house bathroom and be back by the pool sipping another beer. He wasn't drunk, but had managed to maintain a good buzz through the day so far.

Bruce had his head turned to the women's dressing room when Emily and Alli entered from the lounge. Bruce turned his head back to where the girls had entered. "How did you get over there?" Bruce asked truly confused.

"We went to the kitchen to grab a snack." Alli reply, pulling a piece of lunch meat off her plate and lowering it into her mouth as Alli and Emily slowly walked from the lounge end of the pool to where Bruce was sitting near the pool house. Both women were already in there swim clothes.

"I mean I was only in the bathroom for a minute, and I've been waiting here for you two to come out ever since. How did you get by me?"

"When we came out of the changing room you weren't here. We figured you were having problems with something, so we decided to go get something to eat," Alli responded with a cheeky smile as they arrived to where Bruce was sitting. Emily was carrying a sandwich on a plate of her own, along with a bag full of assorted bags of chips she had swiped from the kitchen for everyone to munch on here by the pool.

Bruce decided to drop the subject and instead focus on how hot Alli looked in her one-piece swimsuit, as Alli set down her plate, lowered her shorts, and took a lounge seat next to him. Bruce also thought Emily looked great in her two-piece swimsuit, but he thought of her more as a friend then in that way. And she was Vic's ex-girl and Bruce would never do that to Vic. As much as Vic said that he didn't care about Emily anymore, Bruce had heard that before. This wasn't the first time they had split, though their previous splits had been more amicable. Even through their various break-ups, Bobby and Bruce had managed to remain friends with both Vic and Emily, which was one of the main reasons this set of friends had remained friends throughout college.

Bruce was also good friends with Alli, but being on an island meant that selection of females was limited. Bruce didn't usually like hitting on friends, preferring instead the girls in the club scene who had no expectation of an ongoing relationship. Of the available girls on the trip, Alli was the one he liked most, both for who she was and for her body.

Bruce, Alli, and Emily talked on the patio waiting for the others to come down. Emily asked Bruce if he would put sunscreen on her back, which she obliged. He then quickly offered to do the same for Alli. She agreed and Bruce took a seat behind her on her lounge chair. He messaged her back long after the sunscreen had been well applied, and Alli did not stop him. This scene made Emily crack a smile.

Mary and Robin arrived at the pool. Robin wore a swimsuit that was so bright it hurt Bruce's eyes to look at, while Mary wore what Bruce expected Mary to wear. Bruce thought Mary was hot, but he thought she was too much of a downer. The last thing Bruce wanted was a downer in his life. Robin was attractive enough, but Bruce didn't really think of her as his type. Mary and Robin joined them at their end of the pool.

Chrissy's younger sisters, and the older of the two's boyfriend, arrived next. Bruce remembered the older of the two younger sister's name was Amber. Bruce didn't forget the names of women that were that hot. Amber was wearing a bikini that made Bruce's jaw drop. Amber was off limits in Bruce's mind, though, because she was the soon to be sister-in-law of one of his best friends. She also had her too-cool-for-the-world boyfriend with her. Bruce knew there were enough girls in the world that it never made since to go after another guy's girl, no matter how much of a poser the guy was. The youngest sister was in a sporty one-piece swimsuit. She was also a good-looking girl, and Bruce figured that a few more years of development and she would probably be really attractive. That was definitely one thing that Bruce could say about all of Chrissy's sisters, they were all very good-looking.

The youngest sister hopped into the pool, and began swimming around by herself. Emily made some motion to Alli, which Bruce barely caught, and both women got up leaving Bruce alone on Alli's lounge chair. Alli and Emily joined the girl in the pool, which seemed to make the girl very happy. Bruce signed, but he was OK with it because he was hoping Alli would get her swimsuit a little wet. Bruce took the opportunity to get another beer. As he sat back down, he noted that Robin was talking to Mary about something, a conversation that Mary barely seemed to acknowledge. Bruce certainly wasn't going to get involved in the conversation.

The other members of the Evans family filtered in, some getting in the pool, some not. Theresa came down to the pool wearing a simple one-piece. If Robin wasn't his type, that went double for Theresa. Not an unattractive girl, but way to skinny. Vic's nickname for her was "rat girl", which meant that Bruce could never get the image of a rat out of his head whenever he saw Theresa, who he didn't know very well. Theresa sat down next to Robin, who quickly struck up a conversation with the late arrival.

Ray and his girl, Sara, followed soon after Theresa. Ray was headed towards Bruce when Sara steered him to a seat just beyond where Amber and her boyfriend were sitting. Bruce chuckled a little bit as Ray gave him a look that said he was sorry. Bruce had told Ray that it didn't matter how hot the girl was, if she was that high maintenance then she wasn't worth it. But Sara was certainly hot in her "too-expensive-to-go-swimming-in" swimsuit.

Bruce continued to watch Alli play in the pool when Vic and Bobby finally arrived. Bruce put his hand out in a "what took you so long" expression. Then he got up to get his two friends some beers. He handed them to Bobby and Vic as they reach his end of the pool.

* * *

Denise and her mother had caught Chrissy just as she entered the patio, saying they were headed off to the kitchen to make some sandwiches for everyone. Chrissy said she would come, to which her mother replied that she should stay and have fun with her friends, but Chrissy insisted on helping. They asked Cort, who had not moved from the lounge, if he wanted a sandwich, but he refused and reminded them that he was waiting for his room.

The women found Tina, the caterer, in the kitchen unpacking her supplies. They apologized to Tina if they would be in her way, to which she said they wouldn't be. They all began to put together a lunch for the others. Chrissy forced Denise to tell her all the latest news about the pregnancy, even though she had gotten a full update over the phone only a few days before. Denise gladly obliged. Pamela listened intently, even though she had heard it all before earlier in the day.

Tina offered to make a salad for the group which the other women accepted, and they were amazed at how Tina wielded her knives. Tina made the salad in no time flat. Chrissy made tea for each of the women.

Chrissy told her sister and mother little tidbits about her friends, at least the ones she could tell in front of her mother. Denise had met some of Chrissy's friends before on the few occasions that she had flow out to visit her, but her mother had not met any of them before with the exception of Emily. Emily had spent a Christmas with the Evans family, and had flown out with Chrissy to Chrissy's parent's home to help plan the wedding. Now that Denise and Pamela could put faces to all of Chrissy's friends, it was easier to associate the gossip that Chrissy shared with the people she was talking about.

With all of the talk, it took them longer then expected to finish making the lunch. Tina found a cart for them to use. The loaded the cart with food, and headed back to the pool.

* * *

It had taken Allen a bit to get situated in his room, and to try to convince Lewis to come down to the pool. Lewis had said he would come down when he was done with the chapter of the book he was reading, but Allen knew when he came back upstairs to get ready for dinner he would find Lewis still laying on his bed reading.

Allen was wearing a modest black tee-shirt, and had granted himself the rare luxury of wearing shorts. He had no intention of swimming, but this would be a busy weekend and he definitely wanted to get to know the family that his son would be married into. Allen walked by Cort on his way to the pool.

"Hey Cort, why don't you come out to the pool?"

"No thanks, I'm waiting for my room." Allen knew to ask no further. There are many names for what's wrong with Cort's personality, but probably none fits quite right. Cort gets nervous in situations, and just freezes. One moment he's outgoing in ways you would never expect, then the next it is like the world around him is dead to him.

Allen continued on outside. It was a lovely pool and patio area. Allen was very impressed with the Lighthouse Inn thus far, and definitely understood why Robert and Chrissy had chosen it.

The pool had a few people in it, mainly from the Evans family. Daniel was navigating his son around the pool on an inflatable dolphin, while Emily, Alli, Nicole, and Melissa were splashing around a little ways away. He saw another member of the Evans family, Amber, sitting with her boyfriend. She was wearing a swimsuit that was much too revealing for a girl her age, in Allen's opinion. But Allen knew that he had the luxury of raising boys, and couldn't imagine all the difficulties that would come with raising five girls.

Hey saw his son sitting on the other end of the pool with his friends. They all had beers in their hands. Allen never drank. He had never understood the attraction. The first time he learned that Robert drank, he had been a bit shocked. He had hoped his adopted son never would. Robert's mother had been drunk the night she was in the accident that killed her and Robert's father. This is a detail he had never told Robert, and truthfully, Robert had never asked. He knew Robert was a responsible young man, but Allen couldn't appreciate drinking of any sort, and wondered if he had told his adopted son that detail about the accident if this kind of activity could be avoided.

Allen saw Hurbert sitting at a patio table with his daughter, Amy, and his son-in-law Kyle. He asked if they minded if he sat down, and of course they were happy to have him. Allen asked where Pamela, Christina, and Denise were, and was told that they had decided to make sandwiches for everyone. When they came out with the sandwiches, Pamela joined them, and Allen engaged in polite conversation with the Evans family for the rest of the afternoon.

* * *

"So, how are your cold feet?" Bruce asked Bobby, quietly. Both were on their way back to their rooms from the pool. It had been the first time all day that Bruce had been alone with Bobby, and he wanted to take the opportunity to take Bobby's temperature on the whole wedding thing.

"Well, I made it this far," Bobby replied with a smile.

"Yeah, kind of hard to run away from a wedding on an island," Bruce joked, "or at least it takes a lot more planning." Bobby had confided in Bruce and Vic a few nights before that his nerves were getting the better of him. Even though Bobby and Chrissy had been going out for years, Bobby had told them marriage seemed so final.

Both Vic and Bruce had reassured their friend that he and Chrissy were perfect for each other, and that their marriage would be great, even though neither Vic nor Bruce particularly believed in marriage. In fact, Vic and Bruce had joked after talking to Bobby that engagements were like quicksand, the further you got in the harder it was to get out. Bobby was definitely past the point of no return. Vic and Bruce had agreed that they would drag Bobby to the altar if necessary, because walking out on his wedding would be a horrible mistake. Better to just get married then a divorce later, if need be.

Bruce figured joking with Bobby about it was the best way to ease his friend's nerves. "Just let me know if you need me to call the boat to have them pick you up." Bruce said as they reached his room. "See you at dinner," Bruce said to Bobby as Bobby continued down the hall to his room.

* * *

Mary was almost through with the pool. People had already started to leave, Vic being first after some sort of disagreement with Emily. Mary really didn't care for Vic, but thought that her friend Emily was in large part to blame for these kinds of run-ins, since she had not told Vic to go away years ago.

Ray and that stuck-up bitch-of-a-girlfriend of his had bolted next. Of all of the boys in their clique of friends, Mary had the most respect for Ray. Ray seemed to have a good future ahead of him. He didn't seem stuck in this whole "let's pretend were still in college" kind of summer they all seemed to be having. Mary would have loved to have dated Ray, but Ray never seemed interested. Now, he and the bitch seemed pretty serious. Mary didn't understand why her love life sucked so badly. Mary told herself and her friends that it was because she had high standards, which she did, but that certainly didn't explain all of it.

The inn manager had come to the patio area and apologized profusely to Emily, Alli, and Bruce for the rooms taking so long, then laid out some excuse about her maid not telling her she was done cleaning. The inn manager seemed so flustered. Mary didn't know why people always had to come up with excuses when they screwed up. Emily, Alli, and Bruce had told the inn owner it was alright, and then thanked her for bringing the keys to them.

"Yes, thank you for keeping us waiting," Mary thought. It infuriated Mary when people didn't call things what they were. She now wished she had volunteered to wait on a room, just so it would have been her that the inn manager had tried to keep waiting. The inn manager would certainly have gotten what she deserved then.

Alli and Emily had said they would see them all at dinner, and left the pool area with their bags, followed a short time later by Bruce and Bobby. Thankfully, the parents of the noisy kids in the pool had fished them out and they had left.

Mary rubbed her eyes. "I gotta get out of this mood," Mary thought. She hadn't been so angry when she first woke up this morning. But the day had taken its toll.

"Yeah, I can't believe how all over each other Laura and Eugene were this morning. That was crazy. I wanted to tell them 'Hey, there are little kids present, knock it off'," Robin said to Mary and Theresa. By Mary's count, that was the seventh time today that Robin had mentioned something about Laura and Eugene being "all over each other." Even Theresa barely acknowledged what Robin had said, and Mary certainly wasn't going to give Robin a reason to continue talking about it. But Robin continued on with her diatribe about public displays of affection.

Mary did know why she was so pissed off. Seeing Julie again had put her in a mood, but not how her friends might have expected. Seeing Julie had reminded her of the good friend she had lost. Mary had always thought her and Julie were good friends before the blow-up. Mary had been pissed with Julie for a long time, but that had eventually turned into regret over the loss of their friendship.

Over the course of time her anger over the incident had found a new target, and it was the person right beside her. Over time, she had begun to feel very manipulated by Robin. Robin must have known that by telling her those things a year ago, it would cause the end of hers and Julie's friendship. That, or Robin was truly too stupid to live. The anger and hatred of Robin for that incident was always there, but it too had faded with time. She had never told Robin she felt this way, since the feelings came to Mary over an extended period.

But seeing Julie again had brought all of the anger for Robin to the surface. Robin certainly hadn't helped her cause either by talking so much today.

"Why don't you just shut up," Mary snapped, seemingly out of nowhere. Robin was part way through explaining why she got so disgusted by PDA to Theresa when she instantly stopped talking and turned to Mary. Theresa's eyes grew big, as this was the first really interesting thing that had happened all afternoon.

"I was just telling Theresa what I think abo…," Robin tried to explain in shock that she had been interrupted.

"Believe me, I am saving Theresa the boredom of having to hear one more word from you," Mary interrupted. "And no one really cares what you think. Tell me, if Eugene and Laura had decided to fuck right there on the bus this morning, would it really have affected your life one bit?"

Mary paused, as if to dare Robin to try to answer her rhetorical question. Most of the others weren't paying attention to the conversation, but Amber and Casey had heard the f-word, and were now watching Mary from several feet away.

Mary continued, "What business is it of yours what Eugene and Laura do? Why are so cruel to talk behind everyone's back? Maybe if you weren't such an awful person, you wouldn't have turned Julie and me against each other. Maybe if you weren't so insecure, you wouldn't have destroyed our friendship."

There, it was finally out there how she felt. Mary shook her head as she got up. Robin just sat there staring at her with hurt eyes. Mary knew she had gotten to Robin by calling her cruel, but that telling Robin that she had caused the destruction of Julie and her friendship had really hit Robin hard.

"And for that, I'll never forgive you… you fucking bitch," Mary said as she turned away from Robin and walked off. Mary walked past Amber and Casey, who pretended, unconvincingly, that they hadn't seen the conversation. Mary headed into the lounge and too her room.

* * *

Allen had really enjoyed spending time with the Evans family. He didn't figure that Hurbert and Pamela could be better people. He found he was even more excited for his son's marriage then he had been at the beginning of the weekend. All of there daughters were also very nice, even Amy, who Robert had told him Christina did not get along with. Allen could tell that Denise was a real stand out, though, as far as being nice, and understood why Christina was closest to her.

There was only one problem with the Evans family. No one had said a word to him, and he could not remember Robert ever mentioning anything bad about him, but Daniel was not a good man. Allen knew these things. It wasn't anything specific, but when someone rubbed him the wrong way, Allen knew that it meant that the man must be deeply flawed. Sure, he seemed to play nice with his kids, and he was polite enough, but evil can sometimes be deep in the places of a man where you cannot see.

* * *

Robin had waited a bit after Mary had left to leave herself. She had told Theresa that she would probably see her at dinner, but she wasn't sure herself whether she would go. After she was clear of anybody else, she took off as fast as she could to her room on the third floor. She just made it inside when she burst into tears.

She had certainly not known at the time that telling Mary what Julie had said would destroy their friendship. She hadn't done it with any malice. She just gossiped because trading information made her seem needed by her friends. It made her feel like she belonged. Robin hated herself for what had happened a year ago, and now it was out there that at least Mary knew that it was mainly her fault. She would do anything to undo what had happened, but she didn't know how to fix Julie and Mary's friendship. Robin didn't know what else to do except sit there on the bed and cry.

She also didn't notice the other person in her room. Robin had been sitting with her face in her hands, elbows on her knees, sobbing. She then sat upright, put her hands in her lap, and made a loud shorting noise. She was about to get up and get a tissue from the bathroom when the killer put the garrote wire around her neck.

Robin was aloud one little bit of a final breath, which entered her body with a quick wheeze, before her wind pipe was closed. She tried to fight, did everything she could, but the person with the garrote was much stronger than her. The wire around her neck hurt really badly as it opened up several little cuts around her neck. Small drizzles of blood flowed down her neck and chest, where they were soaked up by her swimsuit top.

One of Robin's final thoughts before her brain turned to mush was that she really wanted to talk one last time. She wanted to beg forgiveness from the person doing this to her, because she must have pissed them off pretty bad to deserve this.

* * *

SPOILERS BELOW

* * *

**Deaths:**

**Kimberly Wade - The Maid**

**Robin Newton - The Loudmouth**

**AN: I hope you enjoyed chapter two. It was twice as much death as chapter one, so that was good.**

**I'll probably update with the next chapter over the weekend. The chapter = Chapter 3: Whoosh.**


	4. Chapter 03: Whoosh

**AN: I hope this chapter is not too confusing. The dinner is talked about from a number of different peoples' perspectives, but I didn't want to flip between perspectives too much. So some of these scenes overlap. For example, Lewis' arrival is discussed in Denise's scene; Lewis discusses his arrival in his scene and about talking with Bobby throughout dinner; Bobby discusses arriving after Lewis' scene; and so on.**

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**Spoilers below to previous chapters**

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Character's Still Alive:

**The Bride and Groom**

Christina Evans (Chrissy) - The Bride

Robert Philips (Bobby) - The Groom

**The Friends of the Bride and Groom**

Emily Stone - The Maid-of-Honor

Victor Ford (Vic) - The Best Man

Allison Little (Alli) - The Athlete

Bruce Kemp - The Partier

Mary Medina - The Sullen

Theresa Fleming - The Photographer

Raymond Cunningham (Ray) - The Go-Getter

Sara O'Conner - The Snob

Laura Burke - The Air Head

Eugene Burke - The Graduate

Julie Graves - The Outcast

Tom Lane - The Stranger

**The Bride's Family**

Hurbert Evans - The Father-of-the-Bride

Pamela Evans - The Mother-of-the-Bride

Amy Marshall - The Tyrant

Denise Arnold - The Peacekeeper

Amber Evans - The Tease

Nicole Evans (Nicky) - The Risk Taker

Daniel Marshall - The Mogul

Kyle Arnold - The Good Son-In-Law

Casey Hicks - The Boyfriend

Melissa Marshall (Lissa) - The Flower girl

Joseph Marshall (Joey) - The Ring bearer

**The Groom's Family**

Allen Philips - The Reverend

Lewis Philips - The Loner

Courtney Philips (Cort) - The Estranged

**Others**

Janice Owens - The Owner of the Inn

Tina Elliott - The Caterer

Troy Curtis - The Ferry Driver

Dorothy Rose - The Stripper

* * *

**Chapter 3: Whoosh**

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"I just don't know why you have such a problem with my friends," Ray said as he changed out of his swim shorts and grabbed a pair of underwear. "I mean, it's not like I'm going to be able to see them very often when we move out east. Why can I not spend this last weekend having fun with my friends instead of sitting halfway across the pool from them?"

Sara knew she had to calm the situation down. She had been happy with herself so far this weekend. Sure she had to spend time with Ray's friends on the boat, but the majority of the time at the pool she had been able to keep Ray and herself from spending any real time with those losers. She walked over to Ray, who had his back to her, and put her arms around him. She stopped him from pulling his briefs all the way up. She whispered in his ear, "I'm sorry; there is just so much of Vic and Bruce I can take in one day. I know I am being selfish, but I like you so much better when you are away from you friends."

She made her eyes as pouty as possible as he turned his head to look at her. "It's my last weekend with them honey, can't you just put up with Vic and Bruce for one weekend. They're really not that bad if you get to know them. Anyways, it's not like I like all of your friends, but I still spend time with them."

Sara still would not let him raise his briefs. She found men were much easier to reason with men when they thought the conversation might lead to sex. "Which of my friends do you not love?" she asked. This was of course a trap, one which she knew Ray would avoid.

"No, it's not like that, I just know that this is the last time my friends and I will get to spend together. When we move out east, I'll still have email and Facebook, but it won't be the same. This is one last blast."

Sara cringed at the thought of Ray continuing any contact with these people. Sara thought Vic was a complete jerk, through and through. He was still working a retail job a year after he had graduated college, what was that all about. Why did he not want to move on with his life? And Bruce; that man had to have some sort of disease with all random hookups he had. Bobby, well, she did not know Bobby as well as Vic or Bruce. But his best friends being Vic and Bruce was all she needed to know about Bobby.

None of them were like Ray. Ray had dreams and aspirations, and the ambition and talent to back it up. Her father and mother adored Ray, because they saw the same things in him that she saw in him.

This job out east could make his career. And Sara was happy to leave the university and to enroll in a school out east. She could not believe that two professors had the audacity to give her "D"s this last semester, so she was happy to leave and find a school that would appreciate her talents.

Ray had given up on raising his briefs, while Sara caressed his body. "I'll try harder to get along with everyone," she said, giving Ray a deep kiss on the mouth. "Don't worry; you'll have a great time this weekend." She knew her reassurances were all he needed. She would still be able to get away with whatever she wanted.

* * *

Eugene and Laura arrived in the dinning room first. They had considered skipping dinner too, and instead grabbing some food from the kitchen and returning to their room. But they had agreed that they really should make an appearance at the dinner. After all, this was a part of the reason they were here, not just for a weekend getaway. They sat there laughing and talking for several minutes before anyone else showed up.

Ray and Sara were the first to arrive, and they sat with them. Laura was happy they did. It was good to have another couple on this trip. Laura really liked Ray, and Sara seemed really nice. She thought they were a very cute couple, and wondered when they'd be getting married. She hoped her and Eugene would be invited to that wedding too.

The two couples talked about the boat ride over and how nice the island was. Sara and Laura talked a bit about weddings. Laura was an expert on the subject, since she had worked so hard to make her 300 guest wedding two month earlier be absolutely perfect. Oh course, Ray and Sara had been there, but with that many guests she hadn't had time to talk to most of their guests more then a few seconds in the receiving line.

Laura whispered to Sara that she had no expectation that the wedding ceremony this weekend would be anything but ho-hum. Sara had smiled at that, and given her a look of agreement.

* * *

Kyle and Denise sat down at an empty table, giving a friendly wave to the two couples already sitting in the room as they walked by them, and receiving a short nod from some of the people at the table. Denise had just gotten settled when Amber, Nicky, and Casey entered and joined them at their table. Denise was happy to get to see her two younger sisters because, since Kyle and she lived about two hours away from her parents, she did not get to see them as often as she wanted.

Amber was wearing a dress which was low cut up top, and clung to her body. It wasn't a tawdry dress, but Denise was always concerned that her little sister was attracting the wrong kind of attention. Nicky was wearing a cute dress which made Denise smile, because her littlest sister rarely wore dresses of any sort. Casey was wearing a slightly wrinkled shirt and tie, which he looked uncomfortable in.

Denise was going to try to avoid talking about her pregnancy tonight with her little sisters. So many of the conversations today were about that. She knew her two youngest sisters were very excited and happy for her that she was going to have a baby, but she could also tell they had long since tired of hearing details about every doctor's visit and every Lamaze class.

Denise asked Amber if she was ready for school in the fall. Amber was to attend a great private school a few states away from their parents. Amber was a very smart girl, and Denise was so proud of her for making it into such a fine university. They discussed college for a while, a topic which seemed to sour Casey a bit. Casey was going to be attending a good school in-state. Denise assumed, correctly, that Casey wanted Amber to attend the same school, or at least one close to where he would be. "Poor Casey," Denise thought, "don't you get that you're just a short term boyfriend for Amber. You're not the first, and you won't be the last." Denise knew that Amber liked to play around with the boys, but that she had no interest in anything that serious.

As they continued to talk about college, people continued to filter in. The Reverend and his son, Lewis, came in. She saw Lewis look longingly at the last open seat at Denise's table, then apparently think better of it and follow Allen to the open seats at the bride and groom's table.

Most of the tables had filled by the time Amy, Daniel, and their kids arrived, so they took up the one remaining empty table in the room. Cort followed not long after, and stood at the entrance to the dining room looking around uncomfortably. There was at least one empty seat available at all of the tables, except the bride and grooms table. Adding to Cort's problems, the reverend sat with his back to the entrance, so he had not noticed Cort come in.

Denise quickly recognized Cort's dilemma, excused herself from her table and walked over to Cort. "Hi! It's Cortney, right?" she said to him. "I'm Denise, Chrissy's sister." She had been introduced to him briefly, but never assumed people she just met remembered her name.

"Hi, you can call me Cort," Cort said. Cort seemed to calm a bit with this slight distraction from his decision.

"OK, Cort, would you like to come and sit with us?" Denise offered warmly.

Cort seemed happy to have the decision made for him, and followed Denise over to her table. Denise wasn't sure who all Cort had met, so she introduced him to everyone at the table. They had to make some additional room at the table to accommodate his size. The three younger people at Denise's table clammed up when the man they did not know sat down, until Denise began asking Nicky about when the last time she went surfing was. This seemed to open the conversation at the table up again.

Not much time later, dinner began. The dinner was buffet style, but Kyle was nice enough to get a plate of food for her. As dinner and conversation continued at her table, Denise tried to talk Cort several times, asking about what he did for work and what he did as hobbies. Cort's answers were soft, pleasant, short, and primarily evasive. Denise decided not to press for answers.

* * *

In their room, Allen had asked Lewis to sit with other people at dinner and try to make friends with the other guests. When they entered the dinning room, there were seats available at a table occupied by Amber, her boyfriend, and a couple of her sisters. Lewis definitely found Amber to be amazingly attractive

Lewis found it nearly impossible to talk to girls, whether they were attractive or not, but if they were beautiful it made it that much more difficult. Lewis would have loved to make his father proud of him by sitting at the table with the kids his age. Heck, if he had had it in him to converse with others easily, he would have enjoyed sitting at that table. But Lewis knew he would be uncomfortable all night if he did sit with them, and the last thing he wanted was to make them uncomfortable by sitting there silently all night.

In the end, Lewis chose to have his father be a bit displeased with him over dealing with the awkward situation. He took up the empty seat next to his father. Allen acted as if it was the most natural thing in the world to have his son sit next to him, as if he wasn't disappointed he hadn't sat at the other table. One of the things Lewis loved about his adopted father was that he never would expose him to more discomfort by telling him to sit at the other table in front of others.

All-in-all, Lewis did not have a bad evening. He got to sit at the table with the two people that he was at all close to, his father and Bobby. He even talked far more then he typically would have, mainly because of Bobby's gentle prodding. It wasn't like the social failure of not having the courage to sit at the table with Amber was something new to him. So he was able to get past it over the course of the evening.

* * *

Bobby arrived at dinner with Bruce and Vic. Bobby was going to sit with Chrissy and her parents, along with his father. Bobby was impressed that everyone had at least attempted to dress well for the dinner. This dinner was to be like a engagement dinner and a rehearsal dinner rolled into one. Chrissy and he had not had an engagement dinner, and they had decided they didn't need much of a rehearsal because the ceremony was going to be simple.

"Do you think we should have woken Adam up for dinner," Bobby asked Vic and Bruce.

"No," Vic laughed, "if he has to go hungry tonight, it will be a good lesson for him."

"So try not to be too pissed off with me," Bruce said to Vic after scanning the room.

"Why?" Vic replied.

"Because I'm going to sit over there," Bruce said, pointing to the open seat next to Alli. This made Bobby chuckle. Vic had already given Bruce crap for his obvious attempts at the pool of hitting on Alli, and had told him that Alli wasn't going to give it up to him. Bruce had stated that he had just needed more time to work his magic.

Bobby was chuckling mainly, though, because Emily was sitting at the table with Alli and the rest of their friends. Vic certainly wasn't going to sit at Emily's table.

"OK, fine," Vic said shortly, and with obvious displeasure. As Bruce headed over to sit next to Alli, Vic took a seat with Ray, Sara, Eugene, and Laura. Bobby headed over to sit next to Chrissy, giving Hurbert and Pamela a friendly hello as he sat.

* * *

Julie and Tom arrived late for dinner, after everyone had collected there first plate of food. Julie had grown nervous again at coming down to dinner, but Tom had pestered her until she gave in and they came down. There were only two empty seats left available where they could sit together, and it was at the table where Amy and her family sat. Julie didn't show much interest in sitting with the family she didn't know, but Tom didn't give her much choice as he took her hand and walked over to the table.

"Do you mind if we join you?" Tom said with a smile to Amy and Daniel.

"Of course not, please do. But you may want to get a plate of food before sitting down," Amy said politely in response. Julie and Tom took her advice, returning with food. Julie sat by the little girl while Tom sat by Daniel. Tom saw the little boy give Julie and him a hesitant look when they sat down, and then scoot his chair a bit closer to his mom. The little girl, between shoveling food into her mouth, was talking frequently to Julie. Tom noted that Julie seemed to be enjoying the conversation with the girl. Amy, who was sitting between her children, occasionally took time out of her meal to cut up food on her son's plate or to prod her kids to keep eating whenever they became too distracted.

"So, are you still in college Tom?" Daniel asked.

"No sir, I just graduated. I'm working for the company I had an internship with during school."

"Oh yeah, what is it you do."

"I'm in marketing research for a small firm."

"Good, good. You're sitting at the right table then. I am with a CEO of a large firm, and I'm always looking for young people who might fit in at my organization. Here's my card," Daniel said, fishing a business card out of his jacket pocket and handing it to Tom. "A word of advice, you may like your job fine, but don't stay at a small company for too long or you won't be taken seriously by the business world. If you ever want an internship with a larger firm, just give me a call."

Tom took the card and thanked Daniel excitedly and very graciously. Tom had no intention of calling Daniel. Tom knew that for a guy like Daniel, the main reason he had handed him his business card was so Tom could see the "CEO" printed on the card and know how important he was. Tom knew that Daniel had no real intention of helping him out.

Tom also had no intention, either, of following Daniel's unsolicited advice. Tom loved his job and who he worked with. He had no intention of leaving any time soon. Daniel had used this opportunity to talk about his work, which Tom listened to feigning interest.

Tom noted that Daniel was wearing a very expensive suit. Most everyone in attendance was dressed nicely, but Daniel, Amy, and Sara stood out for how expensive their clothes obviously were. Tom typically wore business casual clothes to work, so he did not have a lot of dressier clothes to choose from to bring to the island. Even though Tom was dressed nicely, sitting at the same table with Amy and Daniel made him feel a bit under-dressed.

Eventually, Daniel got up to get a second helping from the buffet. Without his father sitting between them, the little boy looked at Tom even more suspiciously. Tom picked up a cherry tomato onto his fork, and began bouncing the tomato in the air, capturing the attention of both of the children and Julie. He bounced the tomato about eight times before launching it way up in the air and catching it in his mouth.

"Wow," both children said, sincerely. Both of the children began trying to replicate the feat with little success. Julie gave Tom a smile. Tom noted that the little boy didn't give him any suspicious looks after that.

* * *

Amber had gone for a second helping of food. She still had a child's metabolism, so she didn't have to worry too much about what she ate. As she walked to the buffet table, she assumed that she was catching a number of looks from many of the males in the room. She was especially happy to walk by the two tables with Chrissy's and Bobby's friends. She knew that Vic, Bruce, and Ray were each looking her over as she walked past, and she was also sure that she had received a number of jealous looks from the women at both tables, which she also liked.

Amber began getting a healthy second helping when she arrived at the buffet table. "Hello Amber, enjoying dinner?" she heard a person say behind her. She knew it was Daniel instantly, and his talking to her almost made her lose her appetite. She knew when she looked back she would find him standing a bit to close to her, so she wasn't surprised when she turned her head and found him right there.

"Yes," she said flatly. She looked at his eyes, which continued to look down the front of her dress for a second before meeting her eyes. She hated the way he looked at her. It wasn't that he would stare at her various body parts, because a lot of guys did that and Amber didn't particularly find it offensive. In fact, she loved it when she caught men checking out her body. The look in Daniel's eyes made her feel like he didn't think of her as another person, but instead as someone to be used. It was a lust filled look; a dirty, lustful look.

This look had started several months earlier. Amber used to babysit for Amy and his children all the time. She had done this for years without a problem. During this period, she and Amy's relationship had actually gotten pretty good. Amy could still be bossy, but she and Amy had ended up being close. But then a few months ago, Amber started noticing Daniel giving her this look.

She had tried to ignore it for a while. She tried to excuse it as just another guy who enjoyed looking at her. But his look was just so different, and it gave her the creeps.

Her fears were confirmed one night when Daniel had given her a ride home from babysitting his kids. He stopped the car in a parking lot that night and had made a strong pass at her. He had tried to kiss her, had tried to put his hands on her, but she had stopped him. He hadn't been physically forceful, but he could be so intimidating when he wanted to be. It had taken her several times of demanding him to take her home before he did.

That was the last night she had babysat for Lissa and Joey. She hadn't told anyone, ever. She had figured that if Amy had ever found out, it would destroy their marriage, and that was the last thing in the world that Amber wanted. Amber had handed over babysitting duties to Nicky, who was more then happy to take over. Amber would always check with her little sister, as subtly as she could, if Daniel was being OK with her. Nicky gave no indication that Daniel was anything but appropriate with her. In fact, Daniel's attitude towards Nicky seemed to be primarily dismissive.

The whole thing had really taken a huge toll on Amy and her relationship, and Amber knew that she was to blame for that. Amber had not wanted to interact with Amy, fearing her secret would be exposed. Amber had taken a page out of Chrissy play book for treating Amy, and had become very cool to her. She knew this had hurt Amy deeply, but that it was better that Amy be angry with her then have her marriage break apart.

Amber knew Daniel would continue to leer at her as she quickly finished putting food on her plate. Amber was proven correct as she turned to walk away from the buffet table; Daniel was indeed still staring at her with that look. She returned to her table, no longer thinking about impressing anyone in the room. The one, short interaction with Daniel left Amber in a gloomy mood for the rest of the evening.

* * *

Vic hated sitting with the two couples. Sure, Ray was one of his best friends, but ever since he had broken up with Emily, he hated being around happy couples. He didn't really know Eugene or Laura well. Laura was a friend of Emily's, but they weren't extremely close. Vic was one of the few people from this group of friends that had not attended Eugene and Laura's wedding. Vic and Emily had RSVPed together at the time, because they had been going out then, but Vic had decided not to attend the wedding at all after he and Emily had broken up.

Sara and Laura seemed to be getting on well. Eugene remained fairly quite. It had really been the first time this weekend that Vic had a chance to really talk to Ray.

"So, are you still coming to Bobby's bachelor party tomorrow night?" Vic asked Ray, making sure to be loud enough so that Sara could hear.

Ray, who seemed to be making a conscious effort not to look to Sara for an answer, said, "Definitely! So Bobby knows about this, right?"

"Yeah, he knows we're all getting together, but he hasn't been told everything that's going to go on," Vic replied. "Eugene, are you going to be able to come?"

This was the first Eugene had really been invited to the party, but Eugene could care less. Eugene was happy to have left bachelorhood behind, and found a celebration of that form of living to be unappealing at this point in his life. "We'll have to see," was all Eugene said in reply.

"You're not going to do anything at this party that I wouldn't approve of, are you Vic?" Sara said. Vic noted that she had said it in her best attempt at a commanding voice, though he still thought she sounded pouty.

"Well, I promise you this, we'll save all of the hard drugs for after Ray leaves, and we'll restrict him to only blow jobs from the hookers we're having flown in," Vic responded in his most serious tone. Eugene and Laura both laughed at this. Ray also couldn't help but laughing, even though he knew he would pay for it later. Vic didn't mind bringing some discord to Ray's and Sara's love affair. Sara just scowled at Vic in return for his jest.

* * *

Theresa had noted that Emily had wondered out loud several times throughout dinner where Robin was. That it was very unlike her to not come to a gathering, especially when she was only a couple floors away. The empty seat where Robin would have sat remained there as a reminder of her absence all evening. Emily had asked Mary if she knew what was taking Robin so long. Theresa had thought Mary's mood had gotten a lot better since the incident at the pool, but she seemed to sour at Emily's questions about where Robin was.

"I'm not responsible for her," Mary had snapped, "Robin does her own thing. She'll come down to dinner if she wants." It had definitely been a signal to Emily and the others that Mary had tired of discussing Robin, and wouldn't tolerate it further. To Theresa's knowledge, she and Mary were the only ones at the table who knew what happened at the pool, and she knew she wasn't going to talk about in. The last thing Theresa wanted to do was get involved in any controversy, that is, beyond what she was already involved in.

Theresa was just excited to be here at the wedding. When she first heard that Chrissy and Bobby had announced a date, she doubted that she would be invited. Theresa always felt that she was left out of things. Theresa had honestly just wanted to be invited to the wedding when she offered to take the wedding pictures for free. She was so excited when Chrissy had said yes. Beyond that, Chrissy had been honestly grateful for the offer.

Photography was something Theresa really enjoyed, and lately it was bringing her great success. Photography was to thank for her being invited to the wedding and, if everything went well this weekend, photography would be to thank for making her quite wealthy. If Theresa was going to get everything she wanted out of this weekend, then she was not going to get involved in any silly controversies.

* * *

Dinner had broken up a few minutes earlier, and many, including his wife, Pamela, had gone off to bed. Hurbert sat on a porch swing on the front porch of the inn. In a past life, before his first daughter was born, Hurbert would have enjoyed a cigarette at a calm moment like this. But that was a long time ago.

Two of Chrissy's friends, the married couple who were all over each other all the time, had walked by Hurbert carrying a blanket and an electric lantern. They had barely acknowledged Hurbert as they walked past, and they headed down the path that Hurbert believed led to the beach.

Hurbert sat there reflecting on his middle child's upcoming wedding. He was so excited for her. Chrissy had sure blossomed since going off to college. In her youth, Chrissy was the daughter who was more reserved and shy. She loved to sit in her room and read. She hadn't been nearly as outgoing as any of her sisters. To be honest, there were times when Hurbert had wondered if Chrissy would ever get married. She hadn't had a boyfriend in high school, and he worried without a support structure around, that she wouldn't find friends or love as she moved out into the world.

Bobby was a great young man, and Hurbert could tell that he deeply loved Chrissy. Hurbert was really impressed, too, with the fine group of friends that Chrissy seemed to have. Her moving across country for school, at the time, had seemed to him to be a horrible decision on Chrissy's part. It just proved that everything works out in the end.

Cort came walking outside and seemed to be startled by Hurbert. Cort was wearing a coat which seemed to be way too thick for the evening's weather.

"I'm going for a walk," Cort said in a friendly manner when he regained his composure. Cort then walked down the steps, and without a flashlight, and disappeared onto the road that led to the docks.

"Odd man," Hurbert thought.

* * *

Laura insisted that Eugene and her check out the beach tonight, and to not wait for the morning. Laura loved the beach, and was hoping to also go the next day, but knew that the other guests that went to the beach tomorrow would not appreciate much what she wanted to do with Eugene tonight.

Eugene and she had already had their honeymoon, a nice week out in the Bahamas. Laura had wanted to find a nice private beach in the Bahamas, because having a beach to herself had always been one of her dreams, but all the beaches in the Bahamas had been constantly full of vacationers. This trip was an excellent opportunity to get the empty beach she wanted.

The first thing she wanted to do when they got to the beach was strip off all of their clothes and go swimming. Then, she'd take her man on the beach. It was going to be just as she dreamed.

* * *

Bobby and Chrissy joined those that remained of their friends in the dinning room, after their table had cleared out. Most everyone had gone to bed or somewhere else. Nicky was the only member of her family that remained, which meant the older people had to continue to moderate their conversation.

As even this group disbanded for the evening, Bobby and Chrissy headed to the kitchen to thank Tina for dinner. Emily tagged along. After they had thanked Tina for dinner, Emily asked a favor.

"Tina, would it be possible for you to make a plate of leftovers for two people. Two of our friends didn't make it to dinner, and I was hoping they would have something available if they come down later and are hungry," Emily requested.

"Yeah, I was going to ask," Chrissy said. "Adam doesn't surprise me, but I was shocked when Robin didn't come down. Did something happen, is she sick?"

"I get the feeling that something might have happened between her and Mary, but I don't know what. Don't worry, I'll talk to Mary about it alone tomorrow and have her apologize to Robin if necessary," Emily said, inherently assuming Mary was to blame.

"Thanks Emily," Chrissy said. She was so lucky to have a maid-of-honor who would make sure the drama was kept to a minimum.

* * *

Casey had found the back exit to the hotel. He had thought about using the patio, but there were enough people still on the first floor that he was worried about someone coming out there. Casey thought about checking if the back exit locked after the door had already shut, and was relieved to find he could still get back in.

Casey lit the cigarette, which he had been dying for all day, and took long draws. Casey smoked whenever he got the chance, but he didn't want Amber's parents to catch him. Even though he was eighteen, he didn't want to give Amber's folks another reason to dislike him. After going without all day, Casey figured he'd enjoy two cigarettes, since he may not get another chance soon.

Amber had left their table first at dinner, leaving him sitting there with her family. At least Denise had been nice to him. By Casey's count, that made exactly one member of the Evans family that seemed to be OK with him, aside from Amber. Casey had been warned by his friends that Amber's father always gave her boyfriends a hard time, but he'd have thought after dating his daughter for four months the guy would relax.

As Casey lit his second cigarette he heard the patio doors open. He felt smart for having not used the patio for this excursion. Casey heard footsteps on the patio, so he crouched down by a bush, in case the person on the patio turned the corner towards him and walked by. He was amazed at how well he could hear what was happening on the patio, even over the sound of the ocean which could also be heard clearly.

Casey took another drag and thought about his plans for the next day. Casey's friends had also warned him that Amber may tease, but that she was a complete prude about sex. Casey hadn't listened. Casey had tried being the nice, patient boyfriend for most of their courtship, but had tired of barely getting to second base. Casey had started over the past couple of weeks taking a harder edge, and trying to drop hints that he wanted more. Not only that but also suggesting that if they didn't start taking their relationship to the next level, that he would end it. Casey knew that in a month they would be starting at their separate schools, so he had a limited time to get this done, as he didn't really expect their relationship to last beyond that. Tomorrow, he would find a way to turn the pressure up to as high as he could put on. He would threaten, now that his trip had been paid for and they were here on the island, not to go to the wedding if she wouldn't give it up. He thought that would work for sure.

* * *

Laura and Eugene got finished swimming in the buff. It was everything Laura dreamed it would be. Eugene and her lay down on the beach on a blanket, and began kissing passionately. "Do you have one more in you tiger?" Laura asked.

Eugene gave her a faux put-upon look, and then began kissing her even more passionately.

* * *

Hurbert didn't hear the footsteps till they were right on top of him. Nicky had plopped down next to him before he had really known she was outside.

"Hey Daddy," his youngest said, grabbing his arm and throwing it around her as she laid her head on his chest.

"Hey pumpkin, what are you still doing up?"

Nicky shrugged. Hurbert and Nicky just sat there quietly, which Hurbert was going to take advantage of. It was unusual for Nicky to stay still for any amount of time. She was always on to the next bit of excitement. Hurbert couldn't imagine letting her older sisters get away with as much as they had let Nicky do, but she had come last and Pamela and he had tired over the years. So Nicky had been allotted more freedom at her age then the older girls had been given.

But Nicky wasn't the daughter that he worried about, because for all of Nicky's risky activities, she usually seemed to come out pretty safe. Amber was the daughter that captured most of his concern these days.

He was enormously proud of Amber for getting into a top tier university, and he didn't care if he had to work till the day he died to pay for it. She deserved it for all her hard work. Hurbert was just worried that she would get messed up with one of these guys and screw up her future. Pamela and Denise always told him not to worry so much, that Amber had a good head on her shoulders, but a father always worries about these sorts of things.

Though, maybe this weekend proved he didn't need to worry so much. Between Daniel, Kyle, and Bobby, two of his daughters had picked good men. Daniel was of course the exception. Amy had married Daniel when she was barely 20, over his and Pamela's objections. Daniel was over 10 years older then Amy, but Amy had been attracted by Daniel's status and money. Hurbert knew Amy had always pursued this image of perfection, and thought that if she could just control things in her life enough that she would achieve it. Marrying a man who already had money and status gave Amy a step up on her dream. Hurbert always thought of Daniel as being a very arrogant, domineering man.

Hurbert knew that Amy had always been a bit despised by her younger sisters for her controlling, bossy nature. Even Denise, who most of the times could calm down any situation, had some epic fights with her older sister. But Pamela and he had always appreciated that Amy would always look out for her younger sisters, even if she hadn't always done it in the most diplomatic fashion. And they also knew that Amy's controlling came from her love for her younger siblings.

Hurbert couldn't complain too much, though, about the life Amy had made for herself. Her marriage had lasted for over nine years now, and she had provided Pamela and him with the two greatest grandchildren in the world, one of which was a boy. Hurbert didn't love Joey anymore then Lissa, but it sure was nice having another male in the family. Even though Hurbert knew he would never have a great relationship with Daniel, he also had to admit he may have been wrong about how good of a husband Daniel would be.

Hurbert noticed Nicky was softly snoring. He nudged her awake. "If you're tired, you should go to bed."

"OK Daddy," Nicky yawned. "Are you going to bed?"

"Nope, I think I'm going to stay out here a bit longer. You go ahead."

"OK, I love you," Nicky said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight."

"I love you too, Pumpkin. Goodnight."

* * *

The urine flowed from Eugene in a fast, steady stream. The three beers from dinner meant that he would be here for a bit. When he finished here, he would go back to Laura and try and convince her that they should go back to the hotel and go to sleep. Even though they had spent a good portion of the day in bed, Eugene was completely worn out. He certainly had no intension of falling asleep here on the beach.

The waves continued to crash hard on the beach. Eugene thought he heard something behind him. He had hoped it wasn't Laura, she knew that for all they shared, going to the bathroom was certainly something he liked to keep private. "Laura, I'm almost done," Eugene said softly, turning his head around his left shoulder. He didn't see her, so he turned his head a bit more, causing his stream to move a bit with his body.

"Guess not," he thought, returning his eyes to the business at hand, and in the darkness, not seeing the person only a few feet in front of him. Eugene heard a "whooshing" noise, and his mind stop fully comprehending what was happening.

He thought at first he had urinated on his right hand, since his hand felt warm and wet. It quickly began to hurt, so he brought his hand close to his face. Not believing what he was barely able to see in the darkness, as he tried to flex his now missing fingers. His abdomen then began to hurt badly.

A low, but growing, "awh" was all he could muster. His mind, trying to determine which vital part of his body was injured the most, alternated the pain from his abdomen, then his genitals, then his hand, and back to abdomen, for several seconds, before settling on his abdomen. The pain was unbearable, and his mind wouldn't let him take much more action then to try and hold his guts in.

Eugene blinked for a second, and when he opened his eyes they were filled with sand. He didn't remember falling down. He heard Laura screaming; she must have seen he was in trouble. Good, she could help, or go for help.

"Lau.. Lau.. hep..," was all that escaped his sand covered lips. Laura kept screaming. No one could have helped Eugene, as blood was escaping his body too quickly. Laura was certainly not in a position to help, as she wasn't screaming over Eugene's predicament.

* * *

Laura was still lying naked on the blanket on her belly with her arms under her head. She could stay here all night. She found the waves so soothing. She planned on wrapping her arms around her husband and doing whatever it took to convince him to stay the night here when he returned. She closed her eyes and just listened to the waves. She heard footsteps in the sand approaching, which didn't prompt her to open her eyes. "Come lay down again," she begged the figure, who even with her eyes closed she knew was standing above her.

It wouldn't have made a difference if she had opened her eyes sooner. When the figure didn't comply she opened her eyes, and in the glow of the electric torch saw that it was not Eugene. She rolled over onto her back quickly and tried to cover herself. She started to scream. The killer jumped onto of her and plunged the knife into her abdomen. The killer pulled the knife straight out, no slicing, no twisting. The knife wound was almost perfectly the size of the knife blade. The killer continued these types of thrusts, trying to keep count, but losing count after the first five. The killer was trying to focus on the abdomen, but the knife occasionally found its way into Laura's rib cage. The ribs cause the knife to twist violently into Laura. Laura was mainly flailing and screaming. The killer had enough weight to keep Laura from getting away. The sand gave way every time Laura tried to use it to pull herself from beneath the killer.

Laura had been screaming the entire time, but her lungs eventually stopped filling with air. Somewhere in the stabbing, both of Laura's lungs had been punctured. The killer got up from Laura, and was amazed she was still alive, if just barely. Laura's liver and spleen had been shredded, her stomach nicked and leaking stomach acid, and her intestines were in more pieces then could be counted. The blood continued to seep from all of the wounds. Laura's hand made one more attempt to reach out and grab for something, but the sand slipped through her fingers just as her life slipped away from her.

**

* * *

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**Deaths:**

**Eugene Burke - The Graduate**

**Laura Burke - The Air Head**

**AN: I hope you enjoyed chapter three, and I hope Eugene's and Laura's deaths weren't two confusing with Eugene passing out for a bit. **

**I'll probably update with the next chapter later this week, hopefully before the weekend. The fourth chapter has certainly been my favorite chapter to write so far. The next chapter = Chapter 4: Stare.**


	5. Chapter 04: Stare

**AN: As I said at the end of the last chapter, this has been my favorite chapter to write so far. I just thought there was a lot of fun stuff in it.**

**Sorry it has taken me longer to update then I had said it would at the end of the last chapter, but I have been very busy and have not had time to write or edit for a couple of weeks.**

**I'm doubly sorry that it took so long to edit and post this chapter since I got my first review. Thanks James!**

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**Spoilers below to previous chapters**

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Character's Still Alive:

**The Bride and Groom**

Christina Evans (Chrissy) - The Bride

Robert Philips (Bobby) - The Groom

**The Friends of the Bride and Groom**

Emily Stone - The Maid-of-Honor

Victor Ford (Vic) - The Best Man

Allison Little (Alli) - The Athlete

Bruce Kemp - The Partier

Mary Medina - The Sullen

Theresa Fleming - The Photographer

Raymond Cunningham (Ray) - The Go-Getter

Sara O'Conner - The Snob

Julie Graves - The Outcast

Tom Lane - The Stranger

**The Bride's Family**

Hurbert Evans - The Father-of-the-Bride

Pamela Evans - The Mother-of-the-Bride

Amy Marshall - The Tyrant

Denise Arnold - The Peacekeeper

Amber Evans - The Tease

Nicole Evans (Nicky) - The Risk Taker

Daniel Marshall - The Mogul

Kyle Arnold - The Good Son-In-Law

Casey Hicks - The Boyfriend

Melissa Marshall (Lissa) - The Flower girl

Joseph Marshall (Joey) - The Ring bearer

**The Groom's Family**

Allen Philips - The Reverend

Lewis Philips - The Loner

Courtney Philips (Cort) - The Estranged

**Others**

Janice Owens - The Owner of the Inn

Tina Elliott - The Caterer

Troy Curtis - The Ferry Driver

Dorothy Rose - The Stripper

* * *

**Chapter 4: Stare**

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Lissa woke with a bit of a start in the night. She tossed and turned for a while trying to get back to sleep, but just couldn't. Then she thought she heard something in the hall. She didn't get up right away, but then she thought she heard it again. Lissa finally convinced herself that she should go check it out. She thought of herself as a risk taker, like her Aunt Nicky. Plus, maybe it was someone to talk to, since she couldn't sleep.

Lissa got out of the bed her and her brother were sharing very slowly. The "kids'" room only had one double bed, so she and Joey had to share. When she got out of bed, she took a moment to stare at her brother to make sure she hadn't woken him. She could see by the night light that she hadn't. She put on her slippers and walked as quietly as she could to the door to the hallway.

She passed the door to her parent's room on the way. She knew that door would be locked. Rule number one at her house was you always had to knock on Mommy's and Daddy's door before you entered, but they always kept their room locked at night anyways. Lissa knew other kids would sometimes sleep with their parents, but Lissa and Joey never had slept in their parent's room. If she had a bad dream, or couldn't sleep for some other reason, her Mommy would come and lay down with her till she could, and same for her brother. Sometimes, all three of them would sleep in Lissa's bed. But they never slept in Mommy's and Daddy's room.

Lissa reached the door to the hallway, turning the knob slowly and quietly. She peaked out the door, and then stuck her head out, but she didn't see anyone. Lissa decided to investigate further, walking out into the hallway. She closed the door most of the way, but left it open a bit just in case she had to run back into the room in a hurry. She walked slowly towards the stairs. When she reached the stairs, she had to push herself up a little to see over the railing and down to the lower stairs. She didn't see anyone, so she decided to continue down the stairs.

Lissa explored the hallway on the second floor. She was getting more and more excited about being able to explore the hotel when no one was around. Lissa remained quite as she walked, but her pace increased.

Lissa went down to the first floor and went into the empty lounge. She walked over to the doors that led out to the patio and looked out to the pool. She didn't dare go out to the patio. She might get in trouble for wondering the hotel alone at night, but she would definitely get in trouble if she went outside, much less to a pool by herself.

She went back to the front desk area, and then explored the hallway beyond the front desk. There was a set of bathrooms, an office, and some more rooms. She supposed that was where the staff slept.

She made her way back to the front desk and walked into the dinning room. It looked a lot different from when they had had dinner there the night before. The chairs were stacked on the tables, and all of the buffet stuff was gone. As she looked around the room, she did not notice that she was now being watched.

"What are you doing up?"

Lissa turned quickly then froze in her spot as she saw someone else was in the room.

"I didn't mean to scare you, but you shouldn't be up," Tina said, trying to be calming with her words.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," Lissa said, hoping she wouldn't get in too much trouble.

"You didn't do anything wrong. You just shouldn't be up without anyone else around. Why don't you go back upstairs and go back to sleep," Tina said, reassuringly.

"OK," Lissa said as she hurriedly left the room, happy not to be in trouble and happy to leave the situation.

Lissa went up the stairs as fast as she could, reached her room, and then froze in her spot. The door was open wider then she had left it. Her heart had slowed a bit since the scare in the dining room, but was now beating as hard as it could. She stood in the hallway shifting between her feet and sucking on her lips. She thought about knocking on the hallway door to her parent's room. She even thought about going downstairs and getting the lady from the dining room. She could not explain in her mind why the door would be open further then she had left it.

She then thought that maybe Joey had gotten up. Maybe he had left the room and was wondering around the hotel. If he was, he was going to be in so much trouble. The thought of her brother getting in trouble was enough to give her the courage to walk to the door and push it open it all the way.

From the doorway, it looked like Joey was still in bed. She walked further into the room, first verifying that it was indeed her brother lying there. He seemed OK. She looked around the room. With the night light and the light from the hallway, the room was illuminated, but the corners were still too dark for Lissa's liking. And, there was the black emptiness of the adjoining bathroom.

Lissa made her way slowly around the small room, getting just close enough to the corners to see nothing was there. She turned the light of the bathroom on and checked that too before closing the door to the hallway.

She went back to the bed and found that Joey had spread out into her spot in her absence.

"Move over, Joey," Lissa said quietly but sternly as she pushed the sleeping boy enough out of her spot to lie back down. After all the excitement, she fell back to sleep far faster then she thought she would.

* * *

Tina had gotten up very early to start baking, and aside from the interruption of the little girl being in the dining room, she had gotten a lot done. She hoped she hadn't scared the little girl too bad, and really hoped the kid wasn't the vindictive type who would sick her parents on her the next morning.

This was a unique catering experience, since usually there wasn't this amount of travel involved. This had been the only overnight catering trip she had done. It had the disadvantage of having to transport more equipment, but the advantage was going to be getting to handle all of the cooking. If her catering continued to go well, she hoped she would start getting head cooking shifts at the restaurant she worked at.

She was trying to get a decent head start on the preparation and the rolls and such for the next day. The hotel had decent, if out-dated equipment. At least the oven and stove were gas. She had worried they would be electric. The refrigerator was a bit small, so there would be a limit to how much preparation she could do.

The killer entered the room as Tina was taking some rolls out of the oven. Tina's back was to the killer, and she seemed focused on what she was doing. The killer saw a large knife sitting on a cutting board, but then got a better idea looking just beyond the knife.

The killer picked up an apple and walked behind Tina. She didn't notice until the killer was in striking distance. Tina turned quickly and opened her mouth wide to scream, but barely any sound got out before the killer had slammed the apple into her open mouth. The killer had shoved the apple in so hard that Tina's head snapped back and hit the cabinets hard, dazing her. While Tina was dazed, the killer grabbed her neck and twisted one of her arms behind her back and maneuvered her a few feet over to the oven.

The killer forced Tina to her knees and shoved her head into the over, below the lowest rack. The killer then turned the heat up as high as it would go. The wave of heat hit Tina as soon as her head went in and got worse. In a few seconds, her face was covered with second degree burns and the nylon hair net she was wearing began melting to her hair. With her free hand Tina reach into the oven to find something to push off of. She grabbed the rack above her head and then the side of the oven and tried to push, but got nowhere. Tina's attempts at self-rescue left her hand without most of its skin. Her chest was also burning on the door to the oven.

Tina kept screaming into the apple, tasting its warm juices as the fluid was being unleashed from the heat. She tried to bite down, but her mouth was open too wide to get leverage.

Much of the skin was now gone from her face, and her nose was starting to burn off. Tina had not opened her eye lids, but her eyes were now boiling in their sockets. Tina's hair finally caught fire, burning her scalp. Tina's death took an obscenely long time.

The killer had been able to manage Tina's struggling fairly easily. Tina had never been able to get enough leverage to put up a decent fight. When Tina finally stopped struggling, the killer pulled Tina's head out of the oven, got a wet towel, and put out the remaining fire. The killer took her body out the inn exit that was in the kitchen and left it outside.

The killer came back into the kitchen and looked at what needed to be cleaned up. There was some blood on the cabinets, and some charred skin in the oven. The smell was the worst part. The smell of burnt hair was almost overwhelming, even with the industrial vents turned on high. The killer would have to do something about that, but all-in-all, a pretty clean and horrific kill.

* * *

The figure snuck to the door and tried the knob. It was unlocked, so the figure slowly turned it and entered the room. The figure crept up on Chrissy, who was still sound asleep. Seeing this, both figures jumped onto the bed causing Chrissy to awaken startled.

"Good morning, ready to go jogging," Alli said to her startled friend.

Chrissy gave her two laughing friends a nasty look and laid back down.

"You know, you would think that if you didn't want to be woken like this, you would learn to lock your door," Emily said. "Seriously, though, you don't have to come jogging if you want to sleep in."

"No, I need to jog. I still need to lose at least one more pound by tomorrow. I want to make sure I did everything I could to look good in my dress," Chrissy said with her eyes still closed, but sounding awake.

"You're going to look beautiful in your dress," Emily reassured.

"Well come on then," Alli said while shaking Chrissy. Unlike her friend Emily, Alli didn't like to hand out excuses for people to miss physical activity. Chrissy slowly began crawling out of bed, and got dressed in her running clothes while her friends continued to sit on the bed.

When Chrissy was ready, they made their way downstairs, where Nicky was waiting for them. They had told Chrissy's younger sister the previous night that they were going jogging, and Nicky had said she wanted to come. Nicky looked very bright eyed for so early in the morning.

"Hey sis, you been up long?" Chrissy asked Nicky.

"Nope, just got up," Nicky replied.

As the four started for the front entrance, they all noticed the smell.

"What is that," Emily said holding her nose to try to protect it from the bad scent.

"It smells like something is burning. I think its coming from the kitchen, let's go check it out," Alli said and headed for the kitchen.

"You wait hear, Nicky," Chrissy said. Alli noted that the younger girl looked disappointed at being asked to wait behind, but she complied. When Emily, Chrissy, and Alli entered the kitchen, they could smell and see the smoke coming from the oven. Alli quickly opened the oven, grabbed a pot holder, and pulled the sheet of burning rolls from the oven and set them on top of the stove.

"Wow, those didn't turn out so well," Alli said. "Must have been the caterer who put them in, but where is she."

"She said she was going to get an early start this morning. She must have put those in and gone back to bed," Emily said rationally.

"She could have burnt down the entire hotel doing that," Alli said angrily.

"Is it just me, or does it smell like something else burned in here," Emily said.

"I was just going to say that," Chrissy replied.

"I think it's just the rolls," Alli said while she was making sure all of the kitchen equipment, aside from the vent, was turned off. "Come on, let's go running."

They left the kitchen and collected Nicky, who was anxious to find out what mystery they had found in the kitchen, and set off on their run. Chrissy was wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants. Emily and Alli wore sports bras, but Alli was wearing much tighter shorts then Emily. Alli liked showing off to her friends, or anyone else, her body and the benefits of working out. Her friends may make fun of her a bit for how obsessed she could be with working out, but she knew they respected how hard she worked for fitness.

Alli led the way on the run. When they had come to this island before, she had staked out the good running trail. On that trip, the only two who had decided to go running was her and her then boyfriend. That trip had really been a couples' retreat. Emily and Vic were going out then. Of course Chrissy and Bobby were there. Julie was there with her boyfriend at the time. That trip occurring before Julie's falling out with Mary. Mary had come with her then boyfriend, who hadn't lasted in that role for long.

Bruce had come with some random hookup. Everyone had a big laugh over that, accusing Bruce of meeting the girl in a club night before the trip and then bringing her along. Ray had just started seeing Sara at the time. This had been back before everyone had learned to thoroughly hate that girl. And Robin had come with a nice guy.

It had been a great trip that they all had enjoyed. They had stayed at the inn, but spent much of their time on the beach and hiking on the forest trails. The boys even had a boat, which they had gone fishing with.

That had all happened over a year ago now.

Alli didn't set too strenuous of a pace on the run. She had to go at a much slower pace then she normally would have on a run, but she wanted her friends to be able to keep up. She planned on pushing her friends on the length of the run, not on the speed.

When they got to the halfway point, they stopped to rest and drink some water. They mainly talked about the run and the path, but then the topic of Robin and Mary came up.

"What could Mary really have done that would have made Robin what to miss out on dinner last night," Alli said on the topic.

"Amber said she overheard Mary saying some really horrible things to Robin yesterday at the pool," Nicky said, happy to be able to be involved in the conversation.

"What?" was the combined reaction of Emily, Chrissy, and Alli, which caused Nicky to become unsure about opening her mouth on the topic. But Chrissy convinced her sister to tell them what Amber had told her.

"Well that could hurt Robin bad enough to miss dinner, poor thing," Emily said. "I'll track her down when we get back to the inn. And I'll also talk to Mary."

"OK then, should we get going," Alli said, anxious to get running again. Everyone agreed and they were off again back towards the hotel.

* * *

Janice was very unhappy. She had tried to call her family, but had found that the phones were out. This was not an uncommon occurrence. She had radioed into the park service on the mainland that there was a problem with the phones, and the park service said they would pass it onto the phone company, but it usually took days to reestablish service when it went down.

On top of that, Kimberly had really messed her up yesterday by not telling her she had finished cleaning the rooms. She had to discover that Kimberly was done by checking on the rooms. Janice had thought that Kimberly had gone down to the beach, or for a hike, immediately after she had finished cleaning. When Janice had knocked on Kimberly's room this morning she did not answer, so Janice had unlocked her door and gone in to find all of her luggage gone. Janice's big concern was that Kimberly had quit because she had come down hard on her yesterday about how fast Kimberly was cleaning the rooms. That Kimberly had hitched a ride with Troy back to the mainland. If she had, Janice would be stuck doing even more work.

She knew Troy would be back today to drop off the final guest, so she would talk to him and ask if Kimberly had gone with him yesterday.

* * *

Bruce and Vic had come downstairs for breakfast just as the girls arrived back from their run. Bruce wanted to stop and talk to Alli for a bit, which Vic was hesitant about because Emily was there. Luckily Emily, Chrissy, and Nicky had headed upstairs almost immediately upon coming into the inn.

After talking to Alli for a bit, Bruce and Vic headed into the dinning room for breakfast. Ray and Sara were there, so they joined them.

"So, Vic, I'm kind of thinking about changing my plans for today," Bruce said hesitantly. "I'm thinking about going on the hike with Alli."

There were pretty much three choices for activities for the day, go hiking through the forest and up the hill on the island, go on a tour of the abandoned town, or head down to the beach. Bruce and Vic had decided on the abandoned town, in part because Vic knew Emily would go on the hike, and in part because they would have a lot of work to do to get the bachelor party set up and the abandoned town tour wouldn't last all day.

"Don't puss out on me, Bruce," Vic said. "You know I need you to help me get everything moved over to the bar."

The bar was a building a ways up the road from the inn, between the inn and the town. It was a part of the inn's property and to a certain extent had been kept up by the inn's former owners. Janice had told them that she had not really done anything with it since she took ownership, but that they were free to use it. The building was in good shape, and it had power and water. So Vic wanted to use it for the party.

"Are you two boys having a lover's tiff," Sara chimed in.

"Excuse us, we're having an adult conversation over here," Vic responded.

"Come on Bruce, come with Ray and me on the hike," Sara said in a mock sympathetic tone. "Vic wouldn't know what to do if he had to spend the day by himself." Sara was giving Vic sad eyes, as if she felt sorry for him. Ray could not have wanted part of this conversation any less.

"No, thanks," Bruce said sarcastically to Sara. "I said I'd be around to help out with the party, so I'll do the tour."

"Settled then," Vic said. "Ray, make sure and come to the bar as soon as you're done with the hike. And Sara, be careful on the hike. I just don't know what I would do if you got hurt out there." Once Vic and Bruce were done with breakfast they left Ray and Sara to go to the patio. They wanted to get in an early morning beer before starting the days activities.

* * *

Amy came down to breakfast with Lissa and Joey. She saw Amber and Casey sitting at a table with, to her surprise, Cort. Amber and Casey looked to be a bit uncomfortable sitting with the odd man they did not really know. It also seemed odd because Cort was sitting right next to Amber, instead of in one of the other available seats. Cort had the same pleasant but weird smile he always seemed to have.

Amy could see the look of relief in Amber's eyes when she came to the table and sat her kids down at it. Amy left the final seat next to Cort for herself and headed to the kitchen to get some cereal for her children. She was happy to have gotten a chance to do something for Amber, even if it was just a small gesture. Amy still held out hope that she could mend her relationship with Amber. She just really wanted to know what she had done to cause Amber to turn so cold to her after they had seemed to be getting a good relationship going.

Amy returned with a tray with cereal and other breakfast items. Lissa was talking to Amber, which had seemed to put the table at ease. Amy got her kids going with breakfast before sitting down. Amy sat down with a sigh. It had already been a tough morning. She and Daniel had a big fight before her and the children had come down for breakfast.

When Daniel and she had talked with the children about what they wanted to do today, Amy may as well have not even given all of the choices. As soon as they heard going to the beach as an option, it was settled. Daniel had agreed yesterday that going to the beach was what they would all do. Then, out of nowhere this morning, Daniel had told her that he was going on the hike. And it wasn't like he was saying the entire family should go on the hike, he was saying he was going on the hike and she and the kids should still go to the beach. Amy was beyond pissed, because she knew how much the children would enjoy a day at the beach with their father. It wasn't like he spent that much time with them at home because he was always busy with his work.

"Stop kicking your feet, and slow down on your cereal, honey. We'll have all day at the beach, and it won't be much fun if you give yourself a tummy ache," she said to her youngest, rubbing his head. Both of her children were very excite for the day, and she was going to do whatever she had to do to make sure they had a fun day.

Nicky was going to the beach with them, so at least she would have help with the children. Her parents had offered to come to beach with them, but Amy had insisted they go on the hike. Amy's parents loved nature and going on hikes, so Amy had insisted on them going hiking and having a day to themselves. Amber was going to on the tour, and Denise and Kyle had agreed to keep an eye on her and Casey on that trip.

Amy was able to engage Amber in conversation, and Amber seemed warmer to the conversation with Amy then Amy had expected. Amber was excited about seeing the town and learning about the island's history. Getting a history lesson was right up Amber's alley. Amy asked Cort what he was planning to do for the day and he answered her question with a question.

"What are you doing today?" Cort asked.

"Well, my kids and I are going to the beach." Amy was a bit surprised by Cort's question, because Lissa had said several times that they were going to the beach.

"The beach sounds nice; I think I'll go there. When are you going?" The answer had surprised Amy, and had not exactly pleased her. She didn't know Cort, and doubted he would be too helpful with the children. At least it would be another set of hands to carry stuff.

"I think we should be ready in about an hour. We'll meet you in the lobby," Amy told him.

* * *

Chrissy caught Kyle just as she left her room.

"Good morning."

"Oh, good morning Chrissy. Are you heading down to breakfast?" Kyle asked.

"Yes. Are you and Denise coming down?"

"Um, no, just me. Denise is a bit under the weather, so I'm going down to get her some breakfast and bringing it back up here."

"Oh no, I'm sorry she is not feeling well. I'll help you put something together. Are you two still going to the abandoned town today?"

"I'm going to go, but Denise is going to stay here," Kyle said. "She wasn't looking forward to that much walking anyways. Your parents wanted us to make sure Amber behaved on the tour, so I'm still going."

"Well, Bobby and I will be around the hotel for most of the day working on preparing for the wedding. We'll just be at the church meeting with Allen for a little while. You make sure and tell Denise that if she needs anything to find us."

"I will. Thanks Chrissy." They continued into the kitchen.

* * *

Emily had insisted that Janice come upstairs with her. Emily had tried knocking on Robin's door and received no answer. Emily was really worried now, and had decided that Robin's room needed to be checked. Janice had been hesitant to open one of her guest's rooms, but Emily was not going to take "no" for an answer.

When they entered the room, it did not look like anyone had stayed there. Robin's luggage was gone and the bed did not look slept on.

"Maybe she went back to the mainland. Maybe she was so upset by that fight you mentioned that she got her bags and hitched a ride back with Troy," Janice said, trying to calm Emily.

"How long would Troy have stayed, because I think the fight happened later in the day?"

"I think he would have been fueling at the dock for a few hours. He'll be back with your final guest later today. I can ask him then."

"Our final guest?" Emily asked.

"Yes, Victor had me set aside a room for one more guest. He said the boat would be bringing her in today." Emily wondered if Vic had a date for the wedding that she didn't know about, and then decided to get back to the topic at hand.

"When will the boat be here?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but my understanding is that Troy will be keeping the boat here tonight, so we won't miss him. I think he'll be at the dock early in the afternoon."

"Maybe I'll skip the hike and wait for Troy."

"You shouldn't do that. I doubt your friend would have taken her bags out into the woods. And the path to the dock is easy to navigate. You not going on the hike will not bring Troy here any faster."

Emily accepted that. She would go on the hike, but she'd figure out a way to leave early to come back to the hotel. She had to know what happened to Robin.

* * *

Theresa waited impatiently in the woods behind the hotel, not too far from the hotel's back entrance. Theresa had slipped the note under the door earlier in the morning. The person she was meeting with was late. Theresa hoped they weren't too pissed at her asking for this meeting.

"You got my note?" Theresa asked when the person she was meeting with finally arrived

"Of course I did. I didn't just stubble upon you out here," her conspirator answered.

"Sorry, of course. I just wanted to let you know that I was able to get the package into her suitcase yesterday," Theresa said.

"I assumed you did, or you would have let me know before now."

The "package" was the result of a lot of hard work from Theresa. Her conspirator really hadn't done much. Theresa had been the one to travel across the country. Theresa had been the one who had snuck around. Theresa had been the one to take all the pictures and gathered all the evidence. But she had learned to be scared of her partner. Theresa was too scared of her co-conspirator to challenge their authority.

"So, I was wondering if I could come with you when you meet with her tonight?" Theresa asked hesitantly.

"Of course not. You know the plan."

"Well, OK. Well, I was also wondering when we would split up the money." Theresa was very worried that she would be cut out of the deal now that she had done all the work.

"We'll divide up the money before we leave the island," her co-conspirator said. Seeing that Theresa was still leery, her co-conspirator pulled out a pen and a piece of paper. "Just to put your mind at ease, I'll draw you a map where we'll meet tomorrow, and we can set a time."

Her co-conspirator began writing on the paper, but dropped the pen. Theresa reached down quickly to retrieve the pen. When she stood back upright, the killer slashed the knife across her throat. Theresa stumbled backwards and fell down. The killer jumped on top of her and put their hand over Theresa's mouth.

The knife wound hadn't been too deep. The killer had cut open Theresa's wind pipe and nicked both of the jugulars. It was not necessarily a fatal wound. If Theresa got help immediately, she would live. But that was not going to happen.

The killer was enjoying this kill. This had been the first time the killer was able to stare into the victims pleading eyes. The killer was on top of Theresa, holding her head still with their hand over Theresa's mouth. She had very little choice but to look at her murderer. The killer was also enjoying this because the killer hated Theresa. What kind of person sold out a member of a friend's family for money? Really, Theresa deserved this and the killer was enjoying watching her suffer.

The killer let her bleed for several minutes just watching her. Theresa was crying heavily and struggling as much as she could, but she was getting weaker. The killer knew they couldn't wait for Theresa to bleed out. The killer had a very busy day planned and had to get back to it. The killer flashed the knife in front of Theresa's eyes, signaling to her that this was the end. Theresa's eyes became even more pathetic in one final attempt at convincing the killer not to end her life. The killer was unmoved. The killer began sawing the knife into Theresa's neck, found a weak spot in the spine, and continued until the knife was through the back of Theresa's neck, severing Theresa's head from her body.

The killer drug Theresa's body a little ways further into the woods. The killer wasn't too worried about Theresa's body being found. Even if it was, the fates of all of the people on the island were already sealed.

* * *

Lewis came down to breakfast late, and just as he had hoped, no one else was in the dining room. His father had left for the church much earlier in the morning, leaving Lewis to collect breakfast on his own. Lewis had told his father that he would probably go hiking, but Lewis had no intension of leaving the hotel today. He planned on spending the day reading in his room.

Lewis saw the group of people going on the tour of the town gathering in the lobby from where he was sitting in the dining room. He saw Amber and Casey in the group, along with Kyle and a few of Bobby's friends. The inn owner hurriedly led the group out the front of the hotel after they had all gathered.

Lewis saw a few other people wondering around, but didn't talk to anyone. Lewis finished breakfast and cleaned up after himself. He headed back towards the stairs to go back to his room. He saw the two little kids in there swimwear chasing each other around the lounge as he started his way up the stairs. As he got to the landing for the second floor, he nearly ran into the children's mother. She had her hands full of beach toys, towels, clothes, a large umbrella, and other stuff. She lost hold of a few items as she made it to the landing. Lewis reached down and picked up the items and tried to find a way to hand them back to Amy. As he did, Amy spoke to him.

"Thanks. It's Lewis, right? I'm Amy. You're coming to the beach, right?"

Lewis wasn't sure if it was a question or a command. Amy had the ability to ask a question in that way. Many people with far better social skills then Lewis had trouble figuring out how to say "no" to Amy.

"Um, sure," Lewis lied. He had no intension of going to the beach, but he figured that the lie would get him out of this conversation and back to his room quicker.

"Great," Amy beamed at him. "Hurry to your room and put on your swim shorts. We'll wait for you down here."

Lewis was stunned at how fast his plans for the day had been destroyed. He just stood there in shock.

"Go on, hurry up," Amy prodded. Lewis felt compelled to do what she told him to.

* * *

As the group made their way up the road, Casey had tried to keep his hand in Amber's back jean's pocket. It had become awkward on the 3 mile hike, so Amber had taken his hand in hers. She had noticed that Casey had become increasingly grabby over the last few weeks, so she was happy to encourage him not to be.

They stop briefly at a few building on the road before reaching the town. Janice talked about the architecture of the decayed buildings, and what else she knew about them. Janice had warned them up front that her parents had been better at giving the tour, but that she had gone with them several times so she would do the best she could. Amber was very interested in all this. She found this island and its history fascinating. She was a bit perturbed when Casey told her to follow him into the woods along the path. The rest of the group didn't notice them steal away, and the group continued up the road.

When they were a little ways into the woods, Casey turned to her and gave her a passionate kiss. Amber returned the kiss for a bit and then made Casey stop.

"Come on, I don't want to get too far behind the group," Amber said to him as Casey continued to try to kiss her.

"Look, I brought a blanket," Casey said, opening his backpack. "And I was hoping we could stay here for a bit," he continued reaching over to Amber and rubbing her side.

"Look, Casey, I'm really interested in the tour, so I don't really want to stop here."

"But we haven't gotten to do anything all weekend. I was really hoping we could stop here and you could make it up to me," Casey said moving his hand lower, slipping his fingertips under the rim of her jeans. His hand coming to a stop on the button of her jeans.

Amber hated this part of teasing guys. She had no intension of going to far with Casey. She put her hand on his, and took it into her hand. "Casey, I know you want to go further, but we're not going to. So let's go catch up with everyone else."

Casey stood there for a second, getting more upset before responding. "I'm sick of this. You turn me on so much, but it never goes anywhere with you. If you won't stay here with me right now and take this further, then I'm not going to the wedding with you."

Amber let go of Casey's hand, which had tightened around hers. "You think that threat works on me. That I'll be embarrassed going to my sister's wedding without you. I brought you on this trip because I thought you would have fun, not because I just had to have a date.

"You cannot get to me with threats. I came to this island a virgin, and I'll be leaving here as one," Amber said angrily as she walked back towards the path. "Go back to the inn, or you'll really be in trouble."

* * *

Casey stood there for a moment. That had not gone at all as he had planned. First, he thought Amber would be more receptive to his advance. Second, he really had thought Amber would wilt under his threat. That either way, Amber and he would go all the way with him.

He shoved the blanket back into his bag. He wasn't sure if he was more angry, or sad, or embarrassed. A part of him was also really scared he had not just destroyed their relationship, but also their friendship. He began to head back to the path. When he reached the path, he looked up the road towards the town, but Amber was too far away for him to see her. He thought about going after her and apologizing, but instead he decided to head back to the inn.

Casey walked slowly, as he wasn't in a hurry. For the first time the realization settled in of how awkward the rest of the weekend would be. He walked for about five minutes, past a large rock which protruded from the ground. This is when the assault came out of nowhere from the woods.

The woods to Casey left were quite thick, and the tree that had been suspended could not be seen from the road. The tree swung quickly on the thick ropes that held it in the air. As the branches that remained on the swinging tree hit the other trees, there was enough noise to alert Casey. Casey turned his head to the noise, but did not have enough time to turn his body. The base of the large log hit the side of his hip with great force, sending his body violently into the large rock. The log swung back, exposing the teen's mangled body.

Casey was unconscious for a few seconds, but then became aware again. He hurt so badly in so many places. His pelvis had been completely shattered, and he was bleeding from his hips. Both of his femur bones were broken, leaving his legs to lie at unnatural angles. His right arm was broken in several places and he had broken a number of ribs, which had punctured one of his lungs. There was also a great deal of internal bleeding.

As the killer approached Casey they admired their handy work. The trap had been a pain in the ass to set, but the results were worth it. The killer thought about using the trap again, since it had been so hard to get that large log suspended from those ropes. The log's momentum still left it swinging gently. The killer knew that whether they wanted to use it again or not, they would have to reset the trap to get the tree off the path.

The killer continued to where Casey lay dying. Casey was aware of the other person close by, and was softly begging for help. The killer began dragging the boy into the woods. Casey's injuries would probably kill him in fifteen, maybe thirty minutes. The killer was inclined to let Casey die from his current injuries, while they got the trap reset. The killer hoped Casey would be dead before they were done with the work. Casey obliged.

* * *

**Deaths:**

**Tina Elliott - The Caterer**

**Theresa Fleming - The Photographer**

**Casey Hicks - The Boyfriend**

**AN: That's chapter four, and I hope you enjoyed the deadliest chapter so far.**

**Also, if you liked this chapter or any of the chapters, please review.**

**I will try to have the next chapter out late next week or next weekend. The next chapter will be chapter 5: Thunk.**


	6. Chapter 05: Thunk

**First off, I would like to pimp the Harper's Island RP that is being put together by Zac-MentosGoBoom in the Harper's Island Discussion forum. If you haven't gotten involved and created a character yet, please do.**

**Next, sorry again I did not update when I said I would, I had a very busy weekend. **

**This is the shortest chapter so far, and will likely be the shortest chapter in the story. I know some people are probably saying "It's about time there was a short chapter in this story," while others are saying "boo short chapters." So if you are getting tired of my normally overly long chapters, then this is the chapter for you.**

**After last chapter, the wedding party is down to 27… which is still a bunch of characters.**

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**Spoilers below to previous chapters**

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Character's Still Alive:

**The Bride and Groom**

Christina Evans (Chrissy) - The Bride

Robert Philips (Bobby) - The Groom

**The Friends of the Bride and Groom**

Emily Stone - The Maid-of-Honor

Victor Ford (Vic) - The Best Man

Allison Little (Alli) - The Athlete

Bruce Kemp - The Partier

Mary Medina - The Sullen

Raymond Cunningham (Ray) - The Go-Getter

Sara O'Conner - The Snob

Julie Graves - The Outcast

Tom Lane - The Stranger

**The Bride's Family**

Hurbert Evans - The Father-of-the-Bride

Pamela Evans - The Mother-of-the-Bride

Amy Marshall - The Tyrant

Denise Arnold - The Peacekeeper

Amber Evans - The Tease

Nicole Evans (Nicky) - The Risk Taker

Daniel Marshall - The Mogul

Kyle Arnold - The Good Son-In-Law

Melissa Marshall (Lissa) - The Flower girl

Joseph Marshall (Joey) - The Ring bearer

**The Groom's Family**

Allen Philips - The Reverend

Lewis Philips - The Loner

Courtney Philips (Cort) - The Estranged

**Others**

Janice Owens - The Owner of the Inn

Troy Curtis - The Ferry Driver

Dorothy Rose - The Stripper

* * *

**Chapter 5: Thunk**

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**

Nicky came down the stairs carrying her boogie board. She hoped that Amy wouldn't be angry that it had taken her so long to get ready. As she reached the first floor, she took in the scene. Her eyes were immediately drawn to Cort, whose clothes could not have been brighter. His shirt was a bright orange, and she wondered if it had ever fit him as it was being stretched to the limit around his large body. If it was surprising to see that Cort was joining them, it was even more surprising to see Lewis in the group preparing to go to the beach. With Lewis' pale skin, Nicky had not pegged him for much of the outdoors type, much less a beach goer. Lewis was wearing a black shirt and black swim shorts.

Amy was on-a-knee in the middle of the lobby putting a coating of sunscreen on Lissa, while Joey waited anxiously for his turn. As Nicky reached the bottom of the stairs, Amy began getting the other organized as she continued to apply sunscreen.

"Cort, will you please carry the umbrella and these couple of chairs with you? Lewis, why don't you carry the cooler? Nicky, would you carry… wait you've got your board, so I'll carry the picnic basket, and you can carry the beach towels and some of this other stuff. And you two carry a towel and as many of your toys as you can carry, OK?" Both children nodded as Amy had finished applying sunscreen on Lissa and had begun on Joey.

Cort quickly stepped forward and pick-up his assigned items. Lewis looked unhappy, but Nicky didn't think he seemed any unhappier to be assigned to carrying the cooler, just unhappy in general. Nicky quickly picked up the beach towels and as much other stuff as she could. They waited there for a bit while Amy finished up with Joey, then the rest of the stuff was gathered and they were off.

* * *

Amber had first started quickly up the path to catch up with the others, and to get away from Casey, but had then slowed her pace. She wasn't looking forward to having to explain where Casey was. It took her several minutes to catch up to the group, which had already reached the town.

When Amber reached the town, the only people she could see were Janice, Julie, and Bruce. Janice was standing at the edge of the town, and gave Amber a perturbed look as she approached. Julie and Bruce were farther into the town, sitting on a park bench and talking.

"Where have you been, and where is the boy that was with you," Janice said as Amber approached.

"Oh, well, we, um… Casey had a stomach ache, so we stopped. He didn't feel any better so he decided to go back to the hotel," Amber lied.

"Well you two had us worried. Especially your brother-in-law, who went looking for you. You didn't run into him on the path?"

"Um, no," Amber didn't really think that was as odd as Janice did. "You do know I'm eighteen, right? I mean you guys don't have to worry about me like I'm a little kid."

"Adults tell people when they're going to disappear in the middle of the woods," Janice said sternly. Amber stood there and stewed. They continued waiting there until Kyle came trotting up the trail. Kyle was sweating profusely.

"There you are. You're parents would have killed me if I lost you," Kyle said.

"How did you miss each other?" Janice asked Kyle.

"Oh, I checked in the woods in a few places, Amber must have gotten by me," Kyle replied. Kyle asked about Casey, and Amber reiterated her lie, which Kyle did not question. The three then continued on to the center of town.

* * *

Daniel had been happy to see that Amy had packed his jeans. He hadn't thought he would need them, but he needed it to at least look convincing that he was going on the hike. He looked in the mirror in his room. "Perfect, I look like some jerk that is going on a hike," he said to himself. He left the room and headed downstairs to meet the others.

Daniel had to make it seem convincing that he was going on the hike. He didn't want to catch a bunch of shit from Hurbert and Pamela for not coming.

Daniel would have enjoyed playing with his kids on the beach. It wasn't like he was trying to get out of that. But Daniel had learned of an excellent opportunity from Vic the night before. Daniel had other needs that needed to be filled. Something more motivating then spending time with his kids.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and saw that a group had gathered to go on the hike. Most importantly, Hurbert and Pamela were there.

"Hello Daniel," Hurbert said, obviously a little unhappy to see him, "I was surprised to hear you were coming along." Daniel knew Hurbert was unhappy that he wasn't helping Amy with the kids at the beach.

"Yea, I just wanted a chance to see this scenery. Don't know when I'll be back here." Daniel looked over the group. Aside from Hurbert and Pamela, the others were all Chrissy's friends. Daniel was definitely attracted to Chrissy's friends, but some of them seemed to be in a bad mood. Yet another reason not to go hiking as he certainly didn't want to be around a bunch of twenty-something girls in a bad mood. He felt he got enough of that at home.

"Well, I think this is everyone," Pamela said, "Let's go ahead." The group began walking out the door then up the trail a little ways.

"Oh, wait, I left something back at the hotel," Daniel said when they were about a quarter of a mile from the inn. "I'll go run back and catch up to you all. You all go on ahead."

Hurbert tried to argue with him for a bit, but Daniel was able to convince them that it was something important, and that they should not wait. When Daniel turned back to walk to the inn and heard them continue on, his face broke into a rare smile.

* * *

Janice, Kyle, and Amber reached the bench where Julie and Bruce were sitting together talking.

"Where did the other two get to?" Janice asked.

"Hey Bruce, check this out," Vic said walking out of a building close by.

"Please, sir… Vic, don't remove any of the items from the buildings. Please put that back," Janice said firmly. Vic was holding an old looking whiskey bottle. Vic got a nasty look on his face from being scolded, but returned the bottle to where he found it.

"Tom is right there," Julie said pointing behind where Janice and the others were standing. Tom was emerging from the woods.

"Oh, OK. Let's go into the town center and I'll explain the history of this town and the island," Janice said, motioning them onward.

When they reached the tattered gazebo at the center of town, they all took a seat except Janice, who began telling the history. She went on for a while about what was known of the ancient history of the island. Of the evidence of Native American's having been there at some point and early European explorers who were believed to have come to the island.

"The town itself, here on Sheppard's Island, was not established until the late 1940, as you can tell from much of the architecture. This village was created because it was believed that fishing would be made less expensive if the boats were kept here and some processing was done before taking the catch to the mainland. There were never more than 150 inhabitants of the island, even though in the early years they were successful. Over there is the small school house they built, and there is the old church. There is a more modern church that was build closer to the inn near the end of this village's existence.

"The legends on the mainland are that the village was abandoned after a large set of killings occurred here in the 1970s, but that is not really true. One villager did kill five other villagers, then themselves, in 1976, but that wasn't really why the village ceased to be.

"The real reason is because of several years where the fishing was poorer then expected. When the fishing was bad, they could no longer support the other services on the island, and everyone left the island for the mainland. The Lighthouse Inn was the only business left, and its owners, my parents, were the last residents.

"The village was to be destroyed, but a historical society stepped in and lobbied the parks service to declare it a historical site. The park service has an outpost a little ways past the village, but it is unmanned most of the year. The park service maintains the island and the buildings as best they can. The buildings still have many of the items that were left by the villagers. Not many people travel out here, except for those who are staying at the inn because the park service has made camping permits for this island so expensive. And my parents kept a good eye on those who they brought here," Janice said, giving Vic a noticeable look.

"That is the presentation. Please feel free to take a look around and ask me any questions you might have. Oh, and stay away from all the buildings with yellow tape around them. They are condemned, and we wouldn't want them to fall down with you inside."

The group broke apart and wondered the town, with Amber splitting off on her own. Overall, the town was not very interesting. There were some plaques on some of the buildings explaining what they were, and some park service billboards that restated what Janice had told them, except in more detail, but Amber did not find it as exciting a history as she had hoped.

The buildings were not even that old. The buildings that were homes reminded Amber of her grandmother's house, given it had had a chance to rot for thirty-some years. The schoolhouse was just one big room with old desks stacked against a wall. She was beginning to wish she had made-out with Casey instead of coming here.

* * *

When they reached the beach, Lissa and Joey made a break for the water with Amy and Nicky quickly following, leaving Lewis and Cort to decide where to put everything. Amy stayed close to her son in the shallower water, while Lissa and Nicky braved the surf slightly farther from shore.

"Nicky, can I ask a favor from you?" Amy asked when both of the younger children were playing in the shallower water.

"Sure, sis, what's up?"

"Well, I think when I was asking Lewis if he was going to the beach that he thought I was telling him he had to come. I'm not sure he had any intension of coming here."

"You have a habit of having that happen," Nicky said with a smile.

"Well, maybe, but I was wondering if you would make sure he has a good time out here. You know, invite him to play with you and the kids," Amy said.

"Sure, no problem," Nicky replied. Nicky wasn't the most socially gifted person, but she also had no fear when it came to social situations.

"Thanks Nicky, I knew I could count on you," Amy said as Lissa and Joey took her hands and tried to drag her out farther into the surf.

* * *

Mary had started to feel regret about yelling at Robin when she first got up this morning. She knew she had probably hurt Robin deeply. While at the time it had felt good, she now did feel bad. She was really hoping to see Robin at breakfast, but she wasn't there. Alli had acted a bit odd around her also.

When Mary saw Emily, she knew why. She could just tell when Emily was pissed, and wanted to vent. And Mary could guess as to why. Mary assumed that Emily had finally talked to Robin, and that she now knew what had happened at the pool the previous day.

Mary knew it was coming, but Emily was waiting for the right moment. She waited until after Daniel had made his lame excuses and left. She waited until there were a few miles between them and the Lighthouse. Emily, Alli, and Mary dropped back a little ways from the others.

"What happened at the pool between you and Robin?" Emily finally said, as straight forward as she always was when she was angry.

"I got angry and yelled at her," Mary replied, equally straight forward. "I know I went too far, and I'll apologize to her when we get back to the inn."

"That will be some trick, considering she is not there."

"What?" was the combined reaction of Mary and Alli.

"She's gone, along with her bags. Janice, the inn manager, thinks she went home on the ferry yesterday," Emily said, finally stating what she knew.

This was far worse then Mary had expected. She had been hard on Robin, but certainly did not want to ruin the wedding over an outburst that lasted just a few seconds.

"Is she sure?" Alli asked.

"No, not entirely. She said the ferry was around for a few hours after we got here yesterday, so maybe she made it back to the dock and left."

"A few hours? When I yelled at Robin, it was later in the day, that doesn't make sense. Why would the ferry captain stay around that late?" Mary said, creating even more concern amongst the others and in a way she was happy to turn the discussion more towards the question of what had happened to Robin verses the fight her and Robin had.

"I don't know, none of it makes sense to me. I just cannot see Robin leaving and telling nobody that she was going, but right now, it's the only thing that makes sense at all.

"Janice said that the ferry boat will be back sometime this afternoon, and will be staying for a while. I plan on heading back from the hike a bit earlier then the rest of you so I make sure and catch him."

"I could come with you," Mary offered.

"No, Robin may be on the ferry. She may decide to come back. If she does, I want to talk to her first and calm her down," Emily said. "So, tell me what exactly this incident was about and what you said."

Mary's heart sunk a bit at having to explain what happened, but she did. She left out that it had been caused by seeing her former friend, Julie, again. That part was just for Mary herself to know.

* * *

Tom was talking to Kyle near what had been one of the large houses in the village. He had a habit of getting drawn into conversations with people he didn't know that well. But that was something Julie liked about him.

Julie wondered up the small village street to where Vic and Bruce were. Previous to this weekend, it had been a long time since she had seen either of them.

"Enjoying the ancient village so far, Julie?" Vic said as she approached.

"Not so much. It's not really all that interesting," Julie replied.

"Yeah, it makes me wish I had just stuck around the pool today," Bruce added.

"Agreed," Vic said.

"So why didn't you two go on the hike or to the beach?" Julie asked.

"Well, we've got this little thing going on later tonight for Bobby. Some might call it a bachelor party, some might simply call it a night of debauchery. All of those people may be correct, we'll just have to find out," Vic said. "I would invite you, but I'm not 100% sure I'd be able to protect you, from the others or from myself," Vic added, trying to sound chivalrous.

"As long as you don't get Bobby damaged, that will probably be alright," Julie said in response.

"We'll have to see. So why did you choose the tour instead of something fun or exciting?" Vic asked.

Julie hesitated for a moment, then said, "Well, I sort of knew Mary would be there, and everybody else. I'm still… well you know."

At this, Bruce walked over to her and put his arm around her shoulder. She returned the gesture by putting her arm around his torso.

"You know we'll always love you, right," Bruce said to her.

"Yeah, that shit a year ago went way too far. And we've missed you ever since," Vic said.

"I've missed you two too," Julie said with an honest smile. There was a short pause in the conversation before Vic changed the topic.

"So, what's the deal between you and Tom? I mean, is it serious?"

"We've been seeing each other for a while," was all Julie would divulge.

"Do you trust him enough to let him come to our party tonight? I can't make any promises he'll return in one piece or anything," Vic said.

"Sure, he can go. I'm sure he can protect himself from the likes of you."

* * *

When they were ready to take a break from the surf, the kids found an area of the sand they liked, and with Amy's watchful eye, started playing. Nicky continued on to where Lewis was sitting reading. Lewis was sitting a ways away from Cort, who was just sitting in the sun smiling, but didn't seem to have brought any activities of his own.

"Hey Lewis… Lewis, I need your help," Nicky said when she was close enough.

"Oh, um, sure what is it?" Lewis asked, clearly nervous at being approached.

"Come on get up, I need your help over here," Nicky said, trying to stay intentionally ambiguous until Lewis got to his feet. Lewis set his book down and got to his feet slowly, still unsure what was to be asked of him. "I need you to come with me so we can bury those two in the sand," Nicky said, at last, with a large smile.

"Well, I was kind of in the middle of reading," Lewis said.

"You can read later," Nicky said, with a short eye roll. Then, trying to sell it as best she could, she said, "But how often do you get to bury the two cutest kids in the world up to their necks in sand. I'm assuming not that often." On this she grabbed him by the arm and started leading him down the beach.

Lewis could have likely counted the number of times that a girl around his age had touched him on the arm, but he certainly had no recollections of a girl grabbing his arm to take him somewhere.

They arrived where Amy and the kids were to find the children busy digging out small ditches for themselves. Joey was a bit shyer once Lewis was there, but the excitement of the beach overcame his typical shyness. Amy, Nicky, and Lewis then busied themselves with burying the children. Lewis was tentative at first, but soon dove into the task, becoming increasingly happy to be involved.

Lissa and Joey remained buried long enough for Amy to get her camera and take several pictures, but the two youngsters were too ready to do other stuff to be buried for long. Afterwards, the children wanted to build a sand castle, so Amy took them up closer to where Cort was sitting with the rest of the stuff they had brought with them.

Lewis thought about going back to his book at this point, but, seeming to recognize that he was preparing a retreat, Nicky insisted he help with the sand castle. Amy let them all play, as she sat close by under the beach umbrella.

* * *

Janice walked to a house around the corner from the main street of the village. She detached the yellow tape and walked inside.

This house was special to her, and probably the real reason she was still on the island. This was the house where she had spent the first few years of her life. Her parents had lived in this village. Her father had been a fisherman. She remembered how upset he had been when they had to move back to the mainland, but after the school and everything else closed down, it was no place to raise a child.

She carefully walked up the stairs. She knew the house was in better condition then the others, because her parents had taken care of it. The yellow tape was to keep the tourist out of their private memories.

Her parents had moved back to the island after her father retired from fishing. They had always missed it, and were happy to pay too much for the Lighthouse Inn to have an excuse to live out the remainder of their lives here. Unfortunately it had been just a few short years.

Janice thought she heard something downstairs, so she stopped. She hoped no one from the tour had followed her. She had thought she had snuck away fairly well. There was no more noise, so she continued into what had been her parent's room.

The bed frame was still there. They had thrown out the mattresses, but had left the frame. You could still make out on the walls, from the different amount of fading, where the furniture had been. This room brought her parents memory back to her most vividly.

"Hey Janice," a voice whispered. She turned quickly back to the door, startled, and just in time for the sledge hammer to smash her face with a loud "thunk". Janice's face had completely caved in from the blow, and she had died instantly. Her body just fell. The killer stood over her body for several moments, studying it, and waiting to strike another blow if needed. What was Janice's head was now just a bloody mess.

The killer then moved to the boarded-up window and looked through a crack to see if anyone was approaching. No one was. The killer tried to deicide how much time to take hiding this body. The killer also reflected on the kill and decided that it was gory in effect, but ultimately unsatisfying.

* * *

**Deaths:**

**Janice Owens - The Owner of the Inn**

**AN: Like I said upfront, a really short chapter. Plus, with only one death, it almost makes up for the three deaths in the last chapter. **

**To make up for the short chapter and lack of death in this chapter, I will try to have the next chapter out sooner. The next chapter is more than twice as long as this chapter unedited, and my tendency has been to increase length when I edit. The next chapter will be chapter 6: Boom, Boom.**


	7. Summary Chapter 01 to 05

**Since it has been so long since I have updated, I thought I would put together a quick summary of what has happened in each chapter. Spoilers throughout.**

**Chapter 1: Bzzzzz**

The guests arrive on a boat to the secluded island of Sheppard's Island, which is uninhabited but does have an operational inn. During the chapter, we learn that:

Emily (The Maid-of-Honor) is afraid of traveling on boats. Emily and Vic (The Best Man) recently broke up after going out for years. They are on speaking term but do not get along well.

Hurbert (The Father-of-the-Bride) does not like Amber's boyfriend, Casey (The Boyfriend), or Amy's husband, Daniel (The Mogul). Also, Amber (The Tease) and Amy (The Tyrant) are sisters, but have a strained relationship.

Allen (The Reverend) is concerned about Lewis (The Loner), his adopted son, and his social skills.

Julie (The Outcast) had a falling out with the group a year ago because of a fight with Mary (The Sullen). Julie is nervous about how she'll be accepted at the wedding.

Chrissy (The Bride) lives across country from her family, so she does not see them very often.

Cort (The Estranged) is Allen's (The Reverend) brother who he has not seen in years, but hope to reconnect with at the wedding. Bobby (The Groom) is Allen and Cort's nephew, who Allen has raised as his own son since Bobby's parents death.

Nicky (The Risk Taker) feels a bit left out with having no one to hangout with.

Janice (The Owner of the Inn) and Kimberly (The Maid) have a fight about how fast Kimberly is getting her job done. Some of the rooms are not ready when the guests arrive, causing Bruce (The Partier), Alli (The Athlete) , Emily (The Maid-of-Honor), and Cort (The Estranged) to wait for their rooms.

Janice (The Owner of the Inn) reflects on wanting to get rid of the inn, which was left to her by her parents who died in a boating accident a few month previous.

Amy (The Tyrant) discovers a mysterious envelope in her luggage that she does not want her family to know about.

Adam (The Flake) is electrocuted in his bathtub by the killer.

**Chapter 2: Wheeze**

In this chapter, the guests kill time before getting back together for dinner that night. Most of the guests hang out at the pool. During the chapter, we learn that:

Kimberly (The Maid) is drowned by the killer in a bucket full of bleach/water while finishing cleaning the final room.

Bruce (The Partier) is interested in hooking up with Alli (The Athlete), which Alli encourages.

Sara (The Snob) is trying her best to keep Ray's (The Go-Getter) away from his friends, who she does not like.

Chrissy (The Bride), Denise (The Peacekeeper), and Pamela (The Mother-of-the-Bride) get a chance to bond while making lunch. They mainly discuss Denise's pregnancy.

Allen (The Reverend) gets a chance to meet all of the Evans family. He likes them all except for Daniel (The Mogul), who he instantly distrusts.

Cort (The Estranged) acts oddly towards the other guests.

Bruce (The Partier) and Bobby (The Groom) discuss Bobby's cold feet about the wedding.

Mary (The Sullen), after seeing Julie (The Outcast) on the boat after almost a year of not being around her former friend, gets depressed and the angry at Robin (The Loudmouth). Mary has secretly blamed Robin for the falling out she had with Julie. Mary gets very angry with Robin at the pool.

Robin (The Loudmouth), after returning to her room from the pool, is garroted by the killer.

**Chapter 3: Whoosh**

The chapter covers the "engagement" dinner. In this chapter, the following occurs:

Ray (The Go-Getter) and Sara (The Snob) get into a fight about how Sara treats Ray's friends. It is revealed that Ray and Sara plan to move across country after the wedding.

Denise (The Peacemaker) reflects on Amber's (The Tease), her younger sister, flirtatious personality. Denise invites Cort (The Estranged) to sit with her, which he does.

Allen (The Reverend) asks Lewis (The Loner) to sit with other guests at dinner, but he ends up sitting with Allen and Bobby (The Groom), his adoptive brother.

Bobby (The Groom), Vic (The Best Man), and Bruce (The Partier) arrive at dinner together. Bobby sits with Chrissy (The Bride) and both of their parents, while Bruce sits with Alli (The Athlete), Emily (The Maid-of-Honor), and the rest of Chrissy's friends. This leaves Vic to sit with Ray (The Go-Getter) and Sara (The Snob). Vic and Sara proceed to show off their disgust for one another.

Julie (The Outcast) and Tom (The Stranger) sit with Daniel (The Mogul), Amy (The Tyrant), and their kids. Tom decides he does not like Daniel very much because he acts arrogantly towards him.

Amber (The Tease) and Daniel (The Mogul) have a short interaction, and Amber remembers that Daniel made a pass at her and she feels very uncomfortable around him. This has also led to Amber not wanting to be around her oldest sister, Amy (The Tyrant), even though their relationship had been good. Amber does not want Amy to find out for fear the Daniel and Amy's marriage will break-up.

Theresa (The Photographer) reflects on feeling left out of the group and reveals that she may have sinister motives for wanting to attend the wedding.

Emily (The Maid-of-Honor) wonders where Robin (The Loudmouth) is, unaware of what transpired between Robin and Mary (The Sullen) at the pool. The discussion of where Robin is angers Mary.

Hurbert (The Father-of-the-Bride) reflects on how happy he is to see Chrissy (The Bride) getting married to Bobby (The Groom). Hurbert also reflects on Amy (The Tyrant) troubled relationship with her sisters, his dislike of Daniel (The Mogul), and Amber's success and his concern about her boyfriends.

Cort (The Estranged) goes on a walk by himself.

Casey (The Boyfriend) has a cigarette behind the inn.

Eugene (The Graduate) and Laura (The Airhead) go skinny dipping at the beach. Eugene is sliced to death by the killer, while Laura is stabbed to death.

**Chapter 4: Stare**

This chapter focuses on the beginning of the second day on the island, and the guests preparing for the day's activities. Particular focus is on the tour of the abandoned town.

Lissa (The Flower Girl) explores the inn in the middle of the night and caught by Tina (The Caterer).

Tina (The Caterer), who has been working in the kitchen all night, is burned to death in the oven by the killer.

Chrissy (The Bride), Emily (The Maid-of-Honor), Alli (The Athlete), and Nicky (The Risk Taker) get up early and go jogging. They investigate a strange smell from the kitchen, but do not find Tina, who they suspect left the oven on. Alli reflects on coming to Sheppard's Island previously with many of the other guests. If is also revealed by Nicky to Chrissy, Emily, and Alli that Mary (The Sullen) yelled at Robin (The Loudmouth) at the pool the previous day.

Janice (The Owner of the Inn) believes Kimberly (The Maid) left the island on the boat the previous day due to the fight the two had. Janice also notes that the phones have stopped working. Emily (The Maid-of-Honor) insists that Janice allow her to search Robin's (The Loudmouth) room. When they do, they find that all of Robin's luggage is gone. Janice suggests that Robin might have gone back to the mainland with Troy (The Ferry Driver) the previous day. Emily also learns that another guest will be arriving with Troy that day, so Emily decides to find out from Troy what happened to Robin.

Bruce (The Partier) tells Vic (The Best Man) that he would prefer to spend the day with Alli (The Athlete) on the hike, but Vic convinces him that they should go on the tour of the abandoned town so they will have time to prepare for the bachelor party.

Amy (The Tyrant) does something nice for Amber (The Tease) by sitting with her and Casey (The Boyfriend), who are sitting uncomfortably with Cort (The Estranged), at breakfast. Amy inadvertently convinces Cort to come to the beach with her. Amy also reveals that Daniel (The Mogul) has decided not to go to the beach with her and the children, and has instead decided to go hiking, which came as a surprise to her.

Chrissy (The Bride) learns that Denise (The Peacekeeper) is feeling ill, so she will not be going on the tour. Kyle (The Good Son-In-Law) will go on the tour to keep an eye on Amber (The Tease) and Casey (The Boyfriend).

Theresa (The Photographer) meets with her coconspirator and reveals that she left the package in Amy's (The Tyrant) bag. Theresa also reveals that the conspiracy involved her taking pictures. When she presses to be more involved in the blackmail, the person she meets with cuts off her head.

Lewis (The Loner) planned to stay at the inn all day, but because of a misunderstanding, he believes Amy (The Tyrant) orders him to go to the beach with her.

Janice (The Owner of the Inn), Kyle (The Good Son-In-Law), Amber (The Tease), Casey (The Boyfriend), Vic (The Best Man), Bruce (The Partier), Julie (The Outcast), and Tom (The Stranger) go on the tour to the abandoned town.

Amber (The Tease) and Casey (The Boyfriend) sneak off and Casey tries to put an aggressive move on Amber, but Amber does not want to go as far as he does. They have a fight and Amber leaves him in the woods to catch up with the others on the tour.

Casey (The Boyfriend) is crushed by a log on his way back to the inn.

**Chapter 5: Thunk**

This chapter continues the various activities of the guests on the second day on Sheppard's Island. Activities are mainly at the abandoned town, the beach, and the hiking trail.

Amy (The Tyrant), Nicky (The Risk Taker), Lissa (The Flower Girl), Joey (The Ring Bearer), Lewis (The Loner), and Cort (The Estranged) go to the beach.

Amber (The Tease) catches up with the group on the tour at the abandoned town. Kyle (The Good Son-In-Law) had gone searching for her, and arrives back at the town after her. Vic (The Best Man) and Tom (The Stranger) are off on their own when Amber gets to the town, but they show up in time for Janice (The Owner of the Inn) to explain the history of the island.

Hurbert (The Father of the Bride), Pamela (The Mother of the Bride), Emily (The Maid-of-Honor), Ray (The Go-Getter), Alli (The Athlete), Sara (The Snob), and Mary (The Sullen) go on the hike.

Daniel (The Mogul) makes the others who are going on the hike believe that he is going with them, but then makes an excuse to go back to the inn. He suggests that the reason is due to the guest that is still to come to the island.

Amy (The Tyrant), realizing that Lewis (The Loner) may not have planned on coming to the beach, asks Nicky (The Risk Taker) to make sure Lewis has a good time at the beach. Lewis is hesitant to join in with the others at first, but Nicky convinces him, and he ends up having a good time.

Emily (The Maid-of-Honor) confronts Mary (The Sullen) about her yelling at Robin (The Loudmouth). Emily lets Mary and Alli (The Athlete) know that Robin's room was empty, and that she plans on ditching the hike early to talk to Troy (The Ferry Driver) when he returns with the remaining guest.

Julie (The Outcast), Vic (The Best Man), and Bruce (The Partier) discuss the fight between Julie and Mary (The Sullen) that occurred a year ago, and caused Julie to avoid the group since. Vic and Bruce discuss the bachelor party with Julie and ask if Tom (The Stranger) wants to attend, to which Julie says she will allow him to go.

Janice (The Owner of the Inn) explores her childhood home in the abandoned town, and is hit in the face with a sledgehammer by the killer.


	8. Chapter 06: Boom, Boom

**Spoilers below to previous chapters**

* * *

Character's Still Alive:

**The Bride and Groom**

Christina Evans (Chrissy) - The Bride

Robert Philips (Bobby) - The Groom

**The Friends of the Bride and Groom**

Emily Stone - The Maid-of-Honor

Victor Ford (Vic) - The Best Man

Allison Little (Alli) - The Athlete

Bruce Kemp - The Partier

Mary Medina - The Sullen

Raymond Cunningham (Ray) - The Go-Getter

Sara O'Conner - The Snob

Julie Graves - The Outcast

Tom Lane - The Stranger

**The Bride's Family**

Hurbert Evans - The Father-of-the-Bride

Pamela Evans - The Mother-of-the-Bride

Amy Marshall - The Tyrant

Denise Arnold - The Peacekeeper

Amber Evans - The Tease

Nicole Evans (Nicky) - The Risk Taker

Daniel Marshall - The Mogul

Kyle Arnold - The Good Son-In-Law

Melissa Marshall (Lissa) - The Flower girl

Joseph Marshall (Joey) - The Ring bearer

**The Groom's Family**

Allen Philips - The Reverend

Lewis Philips - The Loner

Courtney Philips (Cort) - The Estranged

**Others**

Troy Curtis - The Ferry Driver

Dorothy Rose - The Stripper

* * *

**Chapter 6 – Boom, Boom**

**

* * *

**Troy was not entirely sure why the wedding group had wanted the extra trip to the island made, but the guest that Vic and Bruce had paid him to bring across was sure nice to look at. He had asked her if she wanted to sit near where he was driving the boat, but she had insisted she was fine sitting on the deck, but he stole a look every chance he got. Troy took a bit on the uptake, but he was now assuming that this extra trip was more expensive then just the boat ride over. It was an uneventful, quick trip from the mainland.

"Alright, it will just take me a few minutes to dock," Troy yelled down to Dorothy as they were closing in on the island. After he had docked, Troy walked down onto the deck where Dorothy already had her bag in hand.

"Do you need any help with that," Troy asked.

"No, thanks, I think I have it," Dorothy replied.

"OK. So like I said earlier, Janice is out on an errand, so there is no ride over to the inn. You are more then welcome to stay here until Janice gets back to the inn and can bring over a car," Troy offered.

"No, that's alright, I should be able to make the walk. You said it's only a few miles?" Dorothy asked.

"Um, yeah, it's not too far. Just follow the trail, its well marked. Just don't make any turns," Troy said a bit disappointed. "Now, I'll be here till you get back. You said it would be early tomorrow morning, right?"

"Yeah, more than likely, but please wait for me."

There was no chance that Troy was leaving without her.

* * *

"Oh my God, if we stop one more time, I'm going to scream," Sara thought as the group made yet another stop. Hurbert and Pamela seemed determined to identify every plant, animal and bird, and insect they saw, and since they were leading the hike, everyone else would stop as they dug out some book to find out what to call what they were looking at. Sensing she was irritated, Ray had started rubbing her back. Ray always seemed to know when she was about to lose her patience.

Sara had thought the hike had seemed like a great idea the previous evening. Vic had said he was going on the tour of the town, and it had seemed like the perfect opportunity to keep Ray and Vic apart. She had thought about the beach, but had heard that the family with the kids would be there, and didn't think she would enjoy being around screaming children all day. Sara thought it was unfortunate that parents couldn't be trusted to control their little ones, but that was the world they lived in. When she had kids, she'd make sure they stayed in line.

At this point though, she would have preferred either Vic or annoying children over this hike. Aside from Hurbert and Pamela's constant stops, the trail was rocky and they were going uphill. And when Hurbert and Pamela weren't stopping, they were keeping a pace that was tiring. She had expected a leisurely walk with Ray, not a workout mixed with a lesson on the natural world.

"Well, I certainly think that is a western-mountain ash, what do you think Hurbert," Pamela said.

"With those slight ridges on the leave, yes, I think your right."

"What does it matter," she whispered to Ray, who gave her a silent shush in return.

Seemingly satisfied they had identified the latest plant sample, Hurbert and Pamela resumed their brisk pace with the others following.

* * *

Daniel was sitting behind the front desk at the Lighthouse Inn. Behind the desk was a door into the inn manager's office, which she had left open. When Daniel heard Chrissy or Bobby wandering around the hotel, he just ducked back into the office to not be spotted. His story would be that he tried to catch up on the hike, but wasn't able to, so he did not want to be seen just sitting around. But he had to wait here, because he did not want to miss Dorothy when she came in.

Daniel had shed the t-shirt and jeans that he had put on for the hike, and was now in a suit. He always felt most comfortable in a suit and he wanted to make sure Dorothy could see that he was a serious man. Janice had left the room key for the new guest on the counter, so it was easy to find. Now, Daniel just had to wait.

Daniel was so happy he did not go on the hike. He could not stand Amy's parents. And even though some of Chrissy's friends were good looking, he only really had interest in women he could have sex with, and there certainly was no chance of that with any of them this weekend. At least, not without his wife finding out.

What Daniel secretly wanted was to be a widower. When he had married Amy, she had been willing to accommodate his demanding and exotic needs in the bedroom. After the birth of Melissa, she started to be less compliant, and had practically cut him off after Joseph was born. Divorce was problematic because Daniel had been foolish ten years ago and had not required a prenuptial agreement. Along with how getting a divorce would look amongst his peers, he hated the idea of giving Amy half of what he had produced having to support her until Joseph reach adulthood.

If Amy died through some tragic accident all of that could be avoided. He would be able to keep his money, his kids, and he wouldn't have to sneak around anymore with the two women he was seeing or the prostitute he had regular sessions with.

Daniel had just hoped he had guessed right, that the stripper that Vic and Bruce had hired would be willing to perform a private session. Even Daniel was beginning to think he had a problem with his sexual needs.

* * *

Troy was not particularly happy with having to spend the afternoon alone, especially after offering for Dorothy to stay on the boat until Janice could give her a ride. He sighed as he entered his small room. He had a TV which wouldn't get any sort of reception this far out, so he would have to settle on watching one of the DVDs he had seen several times. He could do work, but aside from taking Dorothy back tomorrow and the wedding group back the day after, no one else was going to see his boat. And he didn't care at that point if they thought the boat was clean or not. More then likely, he wouldn't see any of these people ever again.

Troy had just sat down in his cabin when he thought he heard footsteps on deck. "Maybe Dorothy decided to wait for that ride," he thought. Troy knew not to keep a beautiful woman waiting, even if she was likely a lady of the night. He hopped out of his chair and went up the short staircase to the deck.

As Troy's head came up high enough to look, he looked towards the dock. The killer did not give Troy any time to turn his head, pulling the trigger and sending the first bullet into his jaw, shattering it. Troy recoiled and fell backwards down the stairs. When the killer looked down the stairs, they saw Troy grasping the remnants of his lower jaw, which was sending blood everywhere. Troy was too in shock from the situation to react, not that there was any real escape from the cabin. The killer took aim and fired until the clip of the .22 caliber hand gun was empty. The killer was happy they were far enough away from anyone to allow for using a gun on this kill. And the gun only produced a mild set of pops as it went off.

Troy was dead. Two of the series of shots had hit Troy in the head, killing him. The stairs to the cabin had a door and a lock. It took a bit to find the keys on Troy's body and to wipe clean the blood that was on the deck. The killer locked Troy's body in his cabin then found the engine and cut as many tubes and wires as they could see.

* * *

"Janice!" Kyle yelled. Kyle could not believe that Janice had just left them out here without saying anything. Amber and he had searched all around the village, which hadn't taken very long.

"If she were here, she would have answered by now. We've been all over, can we please just go back to the inn, I'm hungry," Amber pleaded. Everyone else had already left. Vic and Bruce left first, saying they had things to take care of at the hotel. Vic also had suggested that Janice had likely headed back because someone else might be showing up. It hadn't seemed as odd to Vic and Bruce that Janice had left without saying anything.

Julie and Tom had stayed for a while and helped search, but even they gave up after a while and decided to take off. Amber had wanted to head back with them, but Kyle didn't want her on the trail without him. Kyle just thought it was so rude and irresponsible for Janice to just leave them out here, and Janice had not seemed rude or irresponsible. So Kyle was actually concerned, but even he had to admit that if Janice had fallen down or something, then they likely would have found her by now. Kyle was beginning to think that Amber was right, and maybe she gone back to the inn.

"O.K. Amber, we'll head back. I swear, if Janice is at the inn, I'm going to be so angry," Kyle said.

"Seeing you get angry would be a first," Amber said jokingly, happy they were finally going to leave.

* * *

Pamela was very much enjoying the hike. It was great to get a chance to hike with her husband without the kids. Not that she would have minded at all if Amber or Nicky had come, or if Amy and the grandchildren had, but it was nice to have Hurbert to herself and to be enjoying a day with him. Being with the others in her group was not much of a distraction either, because she didn't feel like she had to watch over them like with her own children.

She doubted the group they were with had expected to be going at such a fast pace with Hurbert and her in the lead. She bet that they had expected a nice, easy pace. But Hurbert and her were experienced hikers, and they liked getting out as much in as possible.

She looked back over the group. Only Alli seemed to be having no problem with the pace. That made her feel proud that they had worn out the young folks.

It was just then she noticed a flower that she hadn't seen yet on the hike. She knew what the flower was without stopping, it was a common type, but she also knew the snobby girl got frustrated every time they stopped to appreciate nature. So she was more than happy to stop if just to hear that girl give another irritated sigh.

* * *

Emily was thinking it was about time to head back. She had been thankful for the intermittent stops they had made, both because it slowed up their pace meaning they weren't as far away from the inn then they could be and the long jog they had taken in the morning had left her sore and tired.

It was midafternoon, so she thought the boat should definitely be here by now. Hurbert and Pamela had stopped the group to take a look at some flowers on the side of the path, so Emily signaled to Alli and Mary that she needed to talk to them quietly.

"I'm going to go ahead and head back now," Emily said so only Alli and Mary could hear.

"Do you want me to come with you," Alli offered.

"No, I think I'll be fine, but I am definitely going to go back to the inn after seeing Troy, and I'll be staying there. So if you get back from the hike and I'm not there, come looking for me," Emily said, only half joking.

"Be careful," Mary said as Emily began back down the trail.

* * *

Dorothy arrived at the inn. It had been a long walk, but she was O.K. with that. For what she was getting paid for this job, she was happy to. She was charging so much extra for the travel and the overnight stay she would have to have. She entered the inn to find it empty, with the exception of the one person behind the front desk.

"You must be the guest I've been waiting for," the man said as she walked towards him.

"It looks like I'm the only guest," Dorothy said.

"Oh no, everyone else is out and about, but I think the groom is still here, so why don't I take you to your room before he sees you. I'm Daniel by the way."

"I'm Dorothy, are Vic or Bruce here?"

"No, but they should be back soon," Daniel said as they began walking down the hallway. He was dressed nicer then she would have expected the manager of an establishment out in the middle of no where to dress. In fact, he was dressed like one of his clients who would hire her as a date.

"You have a nice inn here," she said.

"Oh, I'm not the inn owner. She is out giving a tour. I am just a wedding guest who stayed behind to make sure you found your room alright," Daniel said as he stopped at one of the rooms in the back area of the inn. "She wanted you to have a room down here on the first floor, if that's alright with you."

"That's fine, thanks." Daniel unlocked and opened the door for her.

"So not to be too forward, but I was wondering if you had plans for the afternoon, or if you would like some company," Daniel asked.

"There it was," Dorothy thought, "the real reason this man had been nice enough to stay here to wait for her."

"I'd be fine with some company, but you understand that I'm here to work," Dorothy said.

"I understand that, and I am more than prepared to compensate you," Daniel said. Now that it was understood that Daniel was a potential client, Dorothy looked the man over in a new way. He was definitely an imposing man. He was not as young as Vic and Bruce, but then she had the impression that Vic and Bruce had spent all of their money getting her out here. This man looked like he had plenty of money. She didn't really appreciate the way he was looking at her. But she wasn't going to turn down a few extra dollars from this trip.

"Well, let's say $500, and we make it quick. And nothing kinky," Dorothy said, laying out her offer.

Daniel pulled a large roll of money from his wallet and began pulling off bills, hundred dollar bills. He stopped when he pulled off twenty bills.

"Let's say we take are time, and we do whatever I want to do," Daniel said holding out the money.

Dorothy became a bit hesitant at this. She definitely knew to avoid men who wanted to do weird things, which she was guessing Daniel wanted. But this money would more than double was she was making for the weekend.

"OK," was all she said as she led him into the room.

* * *

KNOCK..KNOCK..KNOCK.

"Come in," Denise yelled to the door. Chrissy entered the room carrying a tray.

"Bobby and I are heading off to the church to meet with Allen, so I thought I would bring you something before I left," Chrissy said.

"Thanks Crissy. I feel so bad that you're have to take care of me like this. You shouldn't have to on your special weekend," Denise said.

"Oh it's nothing, and I know these things happen. Anyways, Kyle should be back soon. How are you feeling now?"

"Better, thanks."

"Did you know that Daniel is still here? I heard him with someone as I was coming up," Chrissy said.

"I thought he was going on the hike," Denise responded, "I cannot believe he ditched out on going to the beach with Amy and the kids just to stick around here."

"Yeah, well, we all know that Daniel is a dick," Chrissy said.

"Did you and Bobby get a lot done today?"

"Nope, and we're getting a bit nervous. We were supposed to talk to Tina today to get an update on the plan for the reception, and with Theresa on the plan for the photography, but neither one seems to be around."

"Oh no. I could help you track them down."

"No, its O.K., I'm sure they'll be around when we get back. Anyways, it's not like Bobby and I didn't have fun without them. Its amazing how having to spend one night apart can make us want each other so much more."

"I don't know if I'm supposed to hear that, with your wedding being tomorrow and all," Denise said with a smile.

* * *

"The envelope with the key is gone, so she must be here. Do you think we should go knock on her door and make sure?" Bruce asked.

"Naw, we don't need her till later. We have way too much other stuff to do right now. That tour took way longer then I expected it would. We still need to get all of the food, booze, and other stuff to the bar. If the envelope is gone, I'm sure she's here and fine," Vic replied.

"Yeah, but do you think we should track down Janice, and make sure she made it back OK."

"Are you kidding me, after she left us out there? I'm so pissed at her right now, it's better if I don't see her."

Vic and Bruce headed to the kitchen, where they had stored the supplies for the bachelor party.

* * *

They were just starting on the trail again after eating a light lunch. They had all had to listen to Sara's complaining throughout the whole stop. Alli could tell that Mary was about to throttle the woman. Alli had really enjoyed the hike. She had run on the trails on this trip and her previous trip to the island, but had not really taken in the beauty or thought about all of the different forms of life on the island.

She could tell, though, that Mary was getting more miserable with every single step. Alli thought that it was more than the difficulty of the trail or having to put up with Sara.

"Are you alright?" Alli decided to ask Mary quietly, so the others could not hear. Mary seemed to be pulled out of thought by Alli question.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

"I'm sure Robin will be fine," Alli said, hoping to comfort her friend, but Mary just seemed to be made sadder by the comment.

"It's not just Robin, I mean, I pretty much did the same thing to Julie a year ago. I got angry about something and couldn't let it go or hold it in. I could have just talked to her about it, but instead I really tried to hurt her, just like I did with Robin." Alli was a bit stunned by Mary's admission that she handled the situation with Julie wrong. They walked several feet before Mary continued. "I just wish I handled getting angry better than I do. I go too far."

"Well, I think everyone can go too far when they're angry," Alli tried to let Mary off the hook a bit for how she acted, even though Alli did not believe her friend should be. Alli knew that Mary could be very hurtful when she wanted to be. There wasn't anyone in their group of friends that hadn't at some point had a run in with Mary. She could be such a great friend, but she could really tear a person apart.

Mary just grunted in reply to Alli's comment, and then seemed to go back into her own thoughts. It was almost five minutes before Mary stopped walking. Alli stopped with her. They were in the back of the group, so the rest of the group did not notice and continued to walk.

"I don't think that's right. Others don't go as far as I do. Emily is such a great friend for always trying to clean up the messes of my relationships, but I think I need to be the one to fix the problems I made for once. I really do think I should be the one to talk to Robin, to apologize and try and set things right. I think I want to head back," Mary said.

This was definitely an unexpected turn for Alli. Emily usually had to work on Mary for quite a while before Mary would apologize to someone, and sometimes she never did.

"I'll go with you."

"You don't have to do that, if Emily can make it back, I'm sure I can."

"We've gone a few miles since then, I think its best if I go with you. I'll go tell the others that we are going back to the inn." Alli ran up the trail and was gone for a few minutes before returning. When she did, they started their trek down the hill.

* * *

Nicky and Lewis were sitting together. They had had a nice lunch and the kids had run everyone ragged. The children had seemed to change their minds on what they wanted to do every 15 minutes. Amy was currently helping them fly kites. Lissa had even convinced Cort to fly kites with them. Nicky was happy to take a bit of a break, and Lewis had joined her.

"What are you reading?" Nicky asked. Lewis was not actually reading the book, but he had it in his hand.

"It's just some mystery novel. It's not very good."

"Is that the kind of books you normally read?"

"Yeah, but usually better ones than this."

"I didn't figure you intentionally tried to read bad books," Nicky joked.

They continued to talk about books they liked for a while. Nicky asked Lewis what movies he liked, and he admitted that he did not watch many movies made in the last few years because the Reverend do not like the violence, sex, and drug use they portrayed. The same went for most music and video games.

"He sounds really strict," Nicky said.

"No, it's not really that bad. If I really wanted to go see a movie like that or buy a violent video game, he'd let me, but he prefers that I don't. And since I like books more anyways, I don't really ask that often."

"So are you into any sports?"

"No, not really. Biking to school is about all I do that could be considered physical activity."

They sat their in silence for a bit. Nicky was slightly stymied by the conversation. She like Lewis, but found that she didn't know what to talk to him about. Then, she blurted out a question she immediately regretted.

"So, Allen is not your real father right?" Nicky asked, and then in an attempt to explain her possibly inappropriate question, "I'm sorry, I just knew you were adopted and…"

"No, it's alright," Lewis interrupted, "I don't mind talking about it. In fact, its kind of nice having people know everything instead of wondering what part of it they know about.

"There's really not much to tell. My parents were on drugs all through my childhood. Allen tried to help them kick their habit, but they couldn't. One morning when I was eleven, I woke up and they were gone. They hadn't really packed or taken anything with them, they just left. I didn't know who else to call, so I called the Reverend, and he came to my house with CPS. They allowed him to be my foster dad. Eventually, they revoked my parent's rights in absentia, and Allen adopted me."

"So, you have never heard from them?"

"Nope, never," Lewis replied flatly.

"I'm sorry that happened," Nicky said sympathetically.

"It's alright, Allen cares for me more then they ever did."

They sat there silently for a while watching the kids flying their kites.

"I'm glad you came down to the beach," Nicky said to Lewis. "I hope your having a good time."

Lewis smiled, "I'm actually having a great time, thanks."

* * *

Chrissy and Bobby arrived at the church. After the day they had had, they were really hoping things were going smoothly for Allen here at the church. The church building was in fairly good shape because it was a part of the Lighthouse Inn property, and Janice's parents had taken very good care of the property. The church was in good enough shape to host a half-dozen weddings each year.

"Dad? Dad?" Bobby yelled.

"I'm outside," Allen yelled back.

Bobby and Chrissy walked back outside of the church to the far side to find Allen with his workmen's gloves on. He was standing next to a sizable pile of weeds.

"I think I have gotten most of them," Allen said, taking off his gloves and walking over to them.

"You didn't have to weed this area, it would have been alright," Bobby said.

"It was no problem. The inside of the church was more ready to go then I had thought it would be, and a few of the weeds were big. So I pulled them, and once you start it's hard to stop."

"Well thank you, it looks really great," Chrissy said.

"How did everything else go today? Did you two get everything set with Tina and Theresa?" Allen asked.

"No, and we're starting to get a little worried," Bobby said. "We were not able to find either of them all day. It's not such a big deal if Theresa decided to go on the hike or on the tour, because we hope she has a good time here and that she not be too concerned with having to take the photos. We just wish she had said something. Tina not being around was more upsetting. We know there is a lot of work that still needs to be done for the reception."

"So she wasn't in her room?" Allen asked.

"No, we knocked several times," Chrissy replied. "We are a bit concerned also because we found a tray of rolls burning in the oven this morning. We thought she had decided to get up early and get some cooking done, and then decided to go back to bed forgetting about the rolls. But we're honestly getting concerned not just for the reception happening as planned, but also for Tina."

Allen could see that both Bobby and Chrissy were anxious, but Chrissy particularly seemed upset.

"I'm sure Tina's fine," Allen tried to reassure. "If you haven't found her by the time I get back to the inn, I'll help you look. Maybe she's just a heavy sleeper. We can probably get Janice to open her room and check on her. Don't worry; even if I have to cook the food for the reception myself, you two are getting married tomorrow."

Allen put an arm around both Chrissy and Bobby and led them back into the church to show them around. He quickly went over with them how the ceremony would go, and each of their parts. It would be a straightforward ceremony, so it did not take long to explain everyone's part. When they were done, Bobby asked Allen if he would head back to the hotel with them. He said he had a few last things that he wanted to cleanup and setup at the church, so that they should go ahead. Bobby and Chrissy headed back to the hotel.

* * *

Ray was getting so fatigued. Not as much from the walk but from Sara constant complaining. He knew that Sara had wanted them to go on the hike to keep him away from his friends. It wasn't like Sara had ever enjoyed hiking. In fact, over the course of their relationship they had never done anything like this because she really did not like being in nature.

When Hurbert and Pamela had said early on in the hike that they were planning on staying on the hill until sunset, Sara had said she wanted to do that. Ray knew that if they were out until sunset that he would miss most of the bachelor party, and that was what Sara had really wanted. Ray had known when she had said she wanted to see the sunset that she wasn't thinking about how miserable she would be walking all day and then sitting on a hill waiting for the sun to set, much less having to then walk miles back to the inn in the twilight.

Now, Ray knew it was all about picking the right time to suggest going back. If he suggested it too soon then Sara would dig in and not want to go back. Too late, and Ray might miss some of the party. Emily, Alli, and Mary heading back early had really been fortunate. He had thought about suggesting they head back when Alli and Mary had, but decided to be patient and make sure they spent another hour on the hike.

"Wait, wait," Sara said, "I think I have another rock in my shoe." Hurbert and Pamela were about 40 feet up the trail, and looked annoyed at having to stop. Hurbert and Pamela had become less to blame for the stopping in the last hour, while Sara seemed to need to stop every five minutes for one reason or another. Ray helped steady her as she took off her shoe and shook it out again. To Ray, it didn't look like any rocks came out. Ray decided that now was the time.

"Sara, baby, would you like to head back? I know I'm getting a bit tired, and I know your legs and feet are hurting. The longer we walk, the longer its going to take to walk back to the inn."

Sara put her shoe back on, and was clearly thinking about what she wanted. Ray knew she was trying to decide if the pain in her legs and feet was enough to destroy her plans at keeping Ray away from the bachelor party. When she answered, she didn't answer verbally, she just nodded her head with a sad look on her face.

"OK, wait here a second while I go say goodbye to Hurbert and Pamela," Ray said, trying to hide the excitement and happiness from his face. Ray walked up the trail to where Hurbert and Pamela were. "I really wanted to thank you for leading the hike and for taking the time to explain what all we were seeing on the trail, but I think we are going to head back. Sara's feet are just getting too tired."

"Oh, are you sure," Pamela said, but she was clearly trying to hide her happiness. Ray didn't fault her for that. Hurbert and Pamela had been very patient considering all of Sara's complaining.

"Yeah, I think its best."

"Will you two be alright on the trail back, I mean we could come with you," Hurbert offered.

"No, that's alright, we should be fine."

"OK. Ray, would you do us a favor and let everyone know that we will be out here late?" Pamela asked.

"Sure. You two be careful out here."

"You and Sara be careful on the way back," Pamela said.

* * *

Amy sat on her beach blanket watching Lissa, Joey, Nicky, and Lewis out in the water. Lissa had insisted that Nicky take her back out on the boogie board for the third time today. Nicky had even convinced Lewis and Joey to try it. It had been such a fun day, but now it was time for Amy to really think about what had been happening over the past month.

The packages had started arriving about a month ago in the mail. She had received three before the one that was in her luggage. The packages were all the same, a simple envelope with her name and address in type and no return address. The envelopes each had a set of pictures in them. The pictures had shown her and a friend of hers who she had gotten very close to in the past several months.

Her friend was Charles, and they had met at the gym. He was around her age and they had hit it off great. She loved his sense of humor, and he was such a great listener. Long before the relationship turned intimate she had fallen in love with him. He had been such a gentleman and had respected the fact that she was married; he had not made the first move on her. The last few months with him had been wonderful, but it had also scared her to death.

She was in constant fear of her husband finding out. She was scared that he would divorce her and that he would take the children out of spite. She could care less about his money. She would take her children and leave today with nothing else if she thought Daniel would let her. But she knew it would not be as simple as that, that leaving her husband would also mean destroying the stability in her children's' lives, even if just for a short period. And the thought of her family and friends finding out that she had cheated on her husband and then left him, she knew that would be very hard to face.

People, she knew, would not understand just how hard it was to be with Daniel. He was always working, and even when he was around he was emotionally cold to her. He was a decent father most of the time, but as with today, he seemed to be able to blow off his kids on a whim. None of that, though, had been the worse part.

She had been so young and naïve when she had married Daniel. She had thought that Daniel would provide her with this perfect life with a perfect family. She had been inexperienced, so his degrading demands in the bedroom had seemed to be a fair price for the life he would provide her with. But over time, she began to hate herself for not being stronger, for not saying "no" sooner. She wanted to be the woman with enough self-respect to be rid of him. And in Charles, she saw the opportunity at a better life.

But then the pictures had started to arrive. The pictures had shown her and Charles together. The first batch showed just her and him sitting at a restaurant eating lunch. The next set featured the two of them in an embrace. And the third set showed him leaving her house, and her stopping him and giving him a passionate kiss. The set in her luggage just reiterated the evidence, the evidence that easily proved her infidelity.

The first set had a note demanding half-a-million dollars, but it had been the third set that had said that she should bring the money with her on this trip. She had assumed that the meeting would happen before they got to the island, but it hadn't. She had assumed that the blackmailer had decided to wait, until she found the package in her luggage. She was now left to suspect someone on the island as the blackmailer.

The first suspect was of course her husband, but it was hard to understand why he would demand a half-million dollars of his own money. She had taken the money from their safe at their home. For some reason her husband liked having a lot of cash around. In addition, if her husband had this kind of evidence on her, he would have made her pay long before now.

The second set of suspects was a member of her family, which was hard to stomach. She had eliminated her parents, who obviously wouldn't do this to her, and Nicky, because she was too young. Denise was too nice, and though Kyle was very nice, she had not eliminated him in her mind. They made a nice living, but with the baby on the way, maybe Kyle wanted more. Chrissy had definitely crossed her mind, because the two of them had never gotten along, but with her being all the way out West, it was hard to imagine that she would know, much less be able to organize this. Amber was also a suspect. Even though she was young, she was very smart. She definitely had the ability to pull this off, and if she knew about the affair it might explain why she had turned so cold to her. But she also knew that Amber was a nice person, and that if Amber had known about the affair she was opinionated enough to simply confront her about it.

The third set of suspects, and the latest group, was everyone else on the island. The more she thought about it, the more this made sense. Everyone had known who would be here, and the blackmailer could certainly have researched her husband and found out how much he was worth. One of Chrissy's or Bobby's friends could easily have decided to dig into their lives to find out something to blackmail her with.

At the end of the day, it mattered who it was who was doing this to her, but it mattered more that it be over. She just hoped that when she met with the blackmailer tonight, that would be the end of it. Luckily, Daniel would be at the bachelor party, so at least she would have the chance to sneak out and meet with this person without anyone knowing.

* * *

Walking alone on the path had increasingly made Emily feel vulnerable. The more she thought about what was happening, the more the rational explanations were making less sense. She was not only feeling vulnerable for herself, but for everyone on the island. She tried to convince herself that she had just seen too many scary movies, that those kinds of things don't really happen, but she couldn't help thinking they were in more danger then anyone thought. Then she heard something that made her stop in her tracks.

What she heard sounded like a motorized vehicle, like an ATV or a motorbike. At first she just stopped on the trail, and then she went off the trail and hid behind a bush. Motorized vehicles were prohibited on the island, without exception. As she sat their and strained to hear, she realized that the vehicle must be a ways away.

She sat there until she could no longer hear it. It must not have been on the trail she was on. It was too far away and not in the direction that the trail ran in either direction, but it was hard to tell.

When she regained her nerve, she got back onto the trail and began walking to the dock with a faster pace. Even though her legs were still fatigued from the morning jog, the adrenaline from her fear pushed her forward.

"Is someone else on the island," she thought. The idea made her even more fearful then she had been before.

* * *

Alli would have liked to have a faster pace on their walk, but Mary was dragging. Both had long since stopped enjoying the scenery, and now just wanted to be back at the inn to find out what had happened to Robin. And to maybe enjoy a snack and a glass of wine.

"At this pace, it may be dark before we get back," Alli said.

"I'll try to speed it up, but you know that I'll never be able to go as fast as you're comfortable with," Mary replied. "Anyways, were not that far out."

"We definitely still have a few miles to go," Alli said. "Just pick up the pace a bit, please."

"OK." Mary would normally have argued, or added a snide remark, but not today. Today she certainly didn't feel like doing any of those things, and she definitely wanted to be back at the inn. They increased their pace and continued down the trail.

* * *

Hurbert and Pamela continued on the trail up the backside of the hill at an even faster pace then when before the others had left. They would have been to the top a couple of hours earlier if had just been the two of them. They had decided that, even though this had been a beautiful and scenic hike, that this may have been to difficult of a trail to have chosen with less experienced hikers along. There were two other trails that both would have gotten them to the top of the hill faster, but they had chosen the one that Janice had said was the most scenic. In fact, they were kicking themselves fifteen minutes after Ray and Sara had left, because they walked past a trail that connected to the trail they were on that would have been a shorter trip back to the inn.

They had decided that after the sunset that they would go back on the shortest trail. They would still be in the dark for most of the walk, and that could be dangerous to be on a trail at night that they had never been on before. But the shorter trail would take a couple of hours off of their walk back to the inn.

"I think its just a bit further, how are you doing?" Pamela asked.

"Me? I'm doing great. Let's push through and get to the top and enjoy the bottle of cider I brought."

* * *

The going had been very slow for Ray and Sara. Sara seemed to want to stop every few feet. Ray would have carried her if he didn't have a backpack. It was almost assured that he would miss the beginning of the bachelor party, but if he pushed forward, maybe they could make up some time.

"Please Sara, all of these stops are just keeping you from being able to get off your feet. If you just push harder, we'll be back to the inn in no time. Please."

"I know you just want to get back to go to that party, that you don't even care if I'm hurting all night," Sara accused. The long day had turned her from pitiful to vicious.

"I swear, Sara, if you just push harder, I'll stay with you for a while at the inn. I'll make sure you're alright," Ray said, hoping to placate Sara without giving up his entire evening.

"Do you promise," Sara said, giving Ray her sad eyes.

"Absolutely," Ray replied. They continued on, at a slightly better pace. They went for a whole five minutes before Sara needed to stop again.

* * *

Neither of Amy's children had been happy when she had announced that they needed to get ready to go. Amy could tell by looking at her kids that it was time to pack up and leave, or else she would be carrying her kids back to the inn. And they had too much stuff to carry back to really do that. Nicky, Cort, and Lewis helped her pack, and they quickly got everything together and everyone picked up what they would carry back, when Amy noticed that her son was a bit antsy.

"The rest of you go ahead and head back, I think Joey needs to make a pit stop before we go. Lissa, you make sure and stay right by Nicky, OK?" Amy said.

"I will Mommy."

"Are you sure you don't want us to wait," Cort offered, a bit to Amy's surprise.

"No, that's alright, we'll just be a few minutes," Amy replied. Nicky, Lissa, Cort, and Lewis began heading back, while Amy found the hand sanitizer in her bag, took her son's hand, and began walking a bit further up the beach. They stopped at some tall grass just a little ways from the trail to the inn.

"Mommy, it smells yucky here," Joey said holding his nose.

"It's OK honey, just go ahead and pee so we can get going," Amy replied. She waited till her son was getting on with it before looking out over the grass. Her son was right, something did smell really bad. She assumed it was a dead animal or something. She started walking a little ways into the grass. She could see the flies.

"All done Mommy," she heard Joey say behind her. She was almost standing right on top of Eugene's body, which was only lightly covered with sand, when she heard Joey. Amy turned around and returned to her son. She pumped some of the hand sanitizer into his hands which he rubbed in. She then took him by the hand to collect the remainder of the stuff and headed to the inn.

* * *

Hurbert and Pamela reached the top of the hill with still a couple of hours left before the sunset. They set out the blanket they had brought with them and a snack. They were just about to sit down when they heard the footsteps running a ways off on the trail. They thought it was Ray at first, which gave them a scare.

"You don't think something happened to Sara, do you?" Pamela asked Hurbert, who just shrugged his shoulder and walked back to the trail with Pamela behind him. The figure came into view quicker then either of them thought they would. It didn't look like Ray. The figure running on the trail was dressed all in black. Then Pamela screamed.

"Wait, no…," was all Hurbert could say as the figure took aim with the shotgun and shot Hurbert in the face, removing all of its features. Pamela, who continued to scream, turned her back to run. The killer pumped the shotgun quickly and fired a shot that went straight through Pamela's back, making her as dead as her husband. It seemed to take a second for the two echoing booms of the shotgun to leave the air.

The killer walked over to the bodies. Pamela had ended up only a few feet from the body of Hurbert. The killer hated guns. Guns just weren't that much fun to kill with. The killer thought that it would have been more fun if the initial shots hadn't been fatal, but efficiency was still important. For now.

* * *

**Deaths:**

**Troy Curtis - The Ferry Driver**

**Hurbert Evans - The Father-of-the-Bride**

**Pamela Evans - The Mother-of-the-Bride**

**AN: Sorry that it took so long to get this chapter posted. I will try to get the next chapter posted in a week or so. The next chapter is Chapter 7: Scrape.**


	9. Chapter 07: Scrape

**AN: Apologies again for saying this chapter would be out last week but not getting it out till now. I do not think I have hit one of my update deadlines yet, so I think it might be safe to assume it will take longer than I estimate.**

**Special thanks to ThePlotMurderers for the reviews! I hope you continue to enjoy the story.**

**

* * *

**Character's Still Alive:

**The Bride and Groom**

Christina Evans (Chrissy) - The Bride

Robert Philips (Bobby) - The Groom

**The Friends of the Bride and Groom**

Emily Stone - The Maid-of-Honor

Victor Ford (Vic) - The Best Man

Allison Little (Alli) - The Athlete

Bruce Kemp - The Partier

Mary Medina - The Sullen

Raymond Cunningham (Ray) - The Go-Getter

Sara O'Conner - The Snob

Julie Graves - The Outcast

Tom Lane - The Stranger

**The Bride's Family**

Amy Marshall - The Tyrant

Denise Arnold - The Peacekeeper

Amber Evans - The Tease

Nicole Evans (Nicky) - The Risk Taker

Daniel Marshall - The Mogul

Kyle Arnold - The Good Son-In-Law

Melissa Marshall (Lissa) - The Flower girl

Joseph Marshall (Joey) - The Ring bearer

**The Groom's Family**

Allen Philips - The Reverend

Lewis Philips - The Loner

Courtney Philips (Cort) - The Estranged

**Others**

Dorothy Rose - The Stripper

* * *

**Chapter 7: Scrape**

**

* * *

**

"Oh my God, what was that," Sara said as the two booming sounds continued to echo through the air.

"It was definitely from up the trail," Ray said, looking up the trail from where they were walking. "I think those were gun shots."

Both Sara and Ray showed their obvious fear. Hearing gun shots out in the middle of nowhere is bad enough, but on a remote island where you know no one has a gun had made their blood run cold.

"Ray, let's go, now," Sara said as she grabbed his arm and tried to pull him down the trail. But Ray continued to stand there.

"Ray, now, please! We have to go," Sara begged, far more anxiously.

"We have to go up the trail," Ray finally said. "We have to go see if Hurbert and Pamela are OK."

"No we don't. We have to stay safe. Let's go back to the inn and get help."

"They could be injured. I'm not going back until I know."

"Why? Who are they to you? We didn't even know them before yesterday. Whoever fired those gun shots could be waiting for us. They could be coming down the trail right now. We have to go now."

"Sara," Ray said in a calm voice. She was in tears now, and was clearly very scared. Ray had calmed significantly since first hearing the shots. "Your right, you need to go to the inn as fast as you can. No more stopping."

"What about you?" Sara asked.

"I'm going back. I have to."

"No, no, no. Please Ray," Sara continued begging. Ray gave her a big hug, and a kiss, then turned around and began running up the path towards the top of the hill.

"Stay on the trail and go as fast as you can," Ray called back.

Sara stood there watching him run away until he was out of site, then she turned and began a fast walk, faster then she had gone all day, down the trail towards the inn.

* * *

Emily arrived at the docks and walked towards the boat. She hadn't been formally introduced to the Troy the previous day, but had heard his name enough times from Janice that she felt comfortable yelling it out.

"Troy! Troy!"

She looked out over the emptiness of the ocean. Normally, even walking on a boat on this large of a body of water would unnerve her, but right now she had other fears on her mind.

Emily stepped onto the boat and looked around. The boat looked completely empty. She continued calling for Troy while she looked around. She went up to the bridge and looked everywhere she could get to. She found the door to Troy's cabin locked and knocked on the door. No answer. At this point, she was concerned enough to try to force the door, but it would not open.

Emily thought that Troy might have gone to the inn. Maybe since he was staying the night, he got a room from Janice. If so, she wanted to get to the inn as soon as possible. She left the boat and jogged to towards the inn.

* * *

As soon as Daniel left her room a half-an-hour earlier, Dorothy got into the shower, where she still remained. She had had several tricks over the years, including several awful ones, but Daniel had by far been the worst by far. Dorothy made no apologies for what she did, and certainly felt no shame for it, but this had been the most dehumanizing experienced in her line of work and for the first time in a long time she thought about quitting her lifestyle. And the thought of having to dance in front of anyone right now was demoralizing. Especially since she knew that Daniel would be there.

Dorothy took several deep breaths. She could get through this. She wasn't going to let an awful person like Daniel run her life and make run away from her commitments. Dorothy turned off the water and got out of the shower and began to get ready.

* * *

Ray came to a fork in the trail and stopped to catch his breath. He was drenched with sweat and had to fight off the urge to sit down. Ray was in good shape, but running the entire way to this point was almost too much.

Ray was very scared. The shot had certainly come from this direction. And Ray was certain that is what they were… gun shots. Not only that, they were certainly gun shots from a large gun.

He was past thinking it was silly to be as concerned as he was. He definitely thought there was a chance that he would get to Hurbert and Pamela and find them comfortably sitting and he would look stupid. But two loud gun shots out here didn't fit. He had to know.

He looked at the two available trails. Both trails looked like they continued up the hill. He wished he had looked at the map at the inn more closely, and hadn't relied on Hurbert and Pamela to plan the trip.

Ray made his choice, the trail on the right. He stood back upright and decided he had rested enough. He then began to run again.

* * *

"I just cannot believe she left us out there," Kyle said, his frustration just barely fading.

"I know, but, sweetheart, staying angry about it isn't going to fix it," Denise said. Kyle had complained nearly non stop since he had returned. Kyle sometimes had issues letting rude behavior go. He continued to pace, while Amber, who had just come in, sat with Denise on the bed in Denise and Kyle's room. Denise put her arm around her younger sister's shoulders.

"So, where is Casey, Amber?" Denise asked. "I'm surprised you're here hanging out with you big sister and not off with your boyfriend."

Amber did not immediately reply, instead she continued to look down at her lap. Kyle was so worked up, he answered for her.

"Casey got sick on the tour and came back here. I'm surprised you haven't seen him around."

"Well, I haven't been out and about too much," Denise said. "How's he doing now?" Denise asked Amber, and only received a shrug in reply. She looked to Amber and could tell she was hiding something.

"Kyle, sweetheart, could you please run down to the kitchen and get me another cup of tea, please?" Denise asked.

"Uh, sure honey, I'll be right back," Kyle said.

"Oh, and sweetheart, if you see Janice, please keep your cool," Denise said giving her husband a smile. Kyle's scrunched his face and left. When Kyle was safely gone, Denise asked what she wanted.

"So what really happened with Casey?"

"The same thing that always happens with all my stupid boyfriends. He said that he 'wanted our relationship to go to the next level', which is just guy code for he wanted sex. I got angry with him, so he got angry with me and came back to the inn. I just don't understand why guys cannot just hang out and have fun and not want that."

"There just not built that way," Denise said giving her sister a smile.

"Dad's going to be so pissed. He told me that he didn't want to bring Casey along because he didn't like him. Now Casey's not even going to come to the wedding."

"Dad will be fine. You know he'll be happy to hear that Casey won't be around any more."

"Yeah, you're right. So, are you hungry? Is your stomach feeling better?" Amber asked.

"I'm feeling a lot better. Should we go down to the kitchen and catch Kyle before he comes back up?"

"Sure," Amber said. Amber hopped right up, while Denise stretched for few seconds before trying to stand. They both headed to the kitchen.

* * *

Ray was on the trail for almost a half mile before the trail turned and began heading back downhill. He stayed on the trail for about another quarter mile to see if the trail turned back in the right direction, but it did not. So Ray turned around, angry at himself for choosing the wrong trail. As he started running back to where the trail connected to the other trail, Ray heard the small motor.

Ray's pace, which had slowed from fatigue, sped up again. The motorized vehicle was another ominous sign. As best as Ray could tell, the vehicle was up hill from him. It was hard to tell with the echoing and with his ears throbbing from exhaustion. He just knew it was more important then before to find out what had happened to Hurbert and Pamela.

* * *

"I think we've got everything done," Bruce said setting down the bag of charcoal.

"Yeah, just about an hour behind schedule, and now I need a shower," Vic said. Both men were sweating. They had made four trips from the inn to the bar this afternoon. The bar was only about a mile from the inn, but the loads of coolers and other stuff that they had to bring over had certainly been more work than expected and the path was not smooth.

"I hope none of the guys went ahead with dinner because it took us so long," Bruce said while wiping the sweat off his face with a towel.

"They better not have. Well, I guess I should look at the bright side of it taking so long; maybe Ray will be back before when we get back to the inn. Either way, I'm going back to the inn to take a quick shower."

"Cool, let's do it," Bruce said, as they both headed back to the inn.

* * *

Sara could hear the vehicle coming down the hill. Unlike Ray, Sara's fear had diminished a bit. It had been nearly an hour since they had heard the gun fire, and since she had not heard anymore, she was now thinking that they had made too big a deal out of the whole thing.

This had meant that Sara's pace had slowed because the fatigue of the day had set back in. She hadn't really stopped too many times, but also hadn't been running. She had tried to keep to a fast walk.

Sara thought the sound of a motorized vehicle was a good sign. "Maybe it's a park ranger, or something," Sara thought. She stopped and waited. It definitely sounded like it was coming in her direction. She was so happy at the thought of not having to walk anymore; she would have taken a ride from just about anybody at this point just to get off her feet.

Sara continued to watch the trail until the ATV came into view. She was happy to see that the little four-wheeler looked like it might have enough room to carry her with the driver. When the ATV got close enough, she could see the driver was wearing all black. She gave the driver a wave, which the driver returned. She was really excited now.

When the vehicle was close, it did something unexpected. It sped up. Sara realized quickly that this clearly was not help, and tried to get out of the way, but she was too late. The front of the ATV clipped her legs very hard, knocking her to the ground. Her face hit a rock, breaking a tooth. She tried to get back up, but immediately fell back down from the pain in her ankle, which was badly broken.

The ATV had stopped, and then the driver backed it up to where she was lying. She tried crawling the rest of the way off the trail, fearing the driver meant to run her over again, but the driver stopped just short of her legs and dismounted.

For the killer, this couldn't have been luckier. The death the killer had planned for Sara was to come later, but it hadn't been that inventive. This death was going to be much more fun. The killer took a nylon rope from the bag on the ATV and walked over to Sara, who was still trying to pull herself from the trail. The killer decided to use the leg that did not have the obviously broken ankle. Sara tried, with no success, to kick away as the killer tied the rope very tightly to her leg.

Sara became even more frantic as the killer began tying the other end of the rope to the ATV. Sara desperately tried to untie her leg, but it was tied too well.

Having finished with both knots, the killer got back onto the ATV. Sara was pleading at this point for the killer not to do what the killer was going to do, but of course, the pleading fell on deaf ears. The killer started the ATV and began down the trail. The killer wasted no time getting the ATV to as high a speed as possible while still safely negotiating the trail.

Sara initially tried to stay upright, continuing to try to untie the knot, but she was quickly thrown backwards by the acceleration. The ground acted as very course sand paper on any of Sara's exposed skin unlucky enough to make contact. Every time this happened, there was a horrible scrapping sound, and her screams became even more intense. Sara's leg that was not untied flew around without much of her control, and then caught in a divot in the road which caused her hip to dislocate. One-hundred feet later, her tail bone hit a large rock, shattering it, and flipping her body.

When the killer reached the spot where they needed to turn off the trail to hide the ATV they stopped. The killer got off and looked at Sara's body. The killer flipped the body onto its back. The results were horrific. All of Sara's bones in her appendages were broken. Part of her nose was missing, and she was missing her right eye. What had been her mouth was just a bloody mess. Sara was definitely dead, as the killer could see from the fixed stare of her remaining eye.

The killer cut the rope. The killer wanted to remain to further study the handy work, but this kill had been especially unexpected, and the killer had to make up some time. The killer had places to be. The killer certainly planned, though, to return to this body to further study the damage done.

* * *

Ray reached where the trail had forked. The motorized vehicle sounded like it was downhill of him now, and he could see the tire tracks on the trail they had been walking on all day. His heart told him to run downhill to Sara, but his head told him that they had been running in opposite directions for over an hour, so he had to be closer to the top of the hill. "And Sara would know enough not to trust anyone on the trail at this point, right?" Ray thought. He decided to go with his reason and continue uphill.

* * *

Emily arrived back at the hotel and found Denise, Kyle, and Amber in the lounge snacking on some chips. The three waved to her as she arrived.

"Hey Emily, how was the hike? I didn't expect to see any of you back so soon." Denise said to her as Emily went into the lounge.

"Oh, it was fine. Have you guys seen Janice or Troy?" Emily asked trying to calm down as best she could.

"I wish we had seen Janice, so I could give her a talking to," Kyle said.

"Oh shush you. No we haven't seen either of them," Denise said. "Is everything alright Emily? Do you need help with something?"

Emily thought about telling them what she was concerned about but thought better of it. Right now, she wanted to confirm more information before involving people she barely knew.

"No, I'm fine. I just… If you see Janice or Troy, just please let them know I'm looking for them." Emily left the lounge and went behind the front desk. She searched the back area of the hotel and the kitchen, and then decided to go upstairs. She was heading to the third floor, but heard Vic on the second floor, so she decided to go and talk to him.

"Wakey, wakey, Adam," Vic was calling while knocking on the door to Adam's room. "Come on buddy, I know you don't want to miss the party."

As Emily approached Vic she noticed that he looked like he had just returned from a workout. Although, Emily knew she probably looked similar after hiking and running for part of the way back. Vic continued to knock on Adam's door as Emily approached.

"Vic, can I talk to you," Emily said hesitantly. Vic was taken back by this.

"Sure, Emily, of course," Vic replied. Sensing she was troubled by something, Vic decided to save any flippant remarks.

"I'm sorry; this is kind of difficult, but… When was the last time you saw Adam?"

Vic thought for a moment. "When we got here to the hotel yesterday," Vic replied. "Why?" The question from Emily had thrown Vic off.

"Well, I haven't seen Robin since the pool yesterday. She missed dinner last night and no one else has seen her. I had Janice let me into her room this morning, but she wasn't there, and all of her stuff was gone. I just think it's weird that Robin's gone and that you haven't seen Adam. Janice thought Robin might have caught the ferry back to the mainland. Speaking of which, have you seen Janice?"

"I haven't seen Janice since she ditched us on the tour," Vic said.

"Ditched you?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, she just left us in the town, and I haven't seen her since. But, I have been busy moving stuff to the bar, so I haven't been around here too much."

"Well, I was wondering if you want to help me get the key to Adam's room from the front desk and open it up and see if he's inside."

"What, break into Adam's room?" Vic laughed. "I have no problem with that."

The two went downstairs to the front desk and found a board with extra keys to all of the room. They pulled a key for Adam's room and headed back. Vic unlocked and opened the door and they walked in. Inside, the room looked as if no one had been there. Vic stood inside the room stunned.

"Do you think it's time to start getting concerned? Wouldn't Adam have mentioned something to you if he were leaving?" Emily asked as she looked around the room.

Vic stood there processing for several minutes. He then turned and headed for the door. "I'm going to go take a shower."

"What? Wait!" Emily said in disbelief.

"Look, Emily, I don't know what's going on here, but you're jumping to conclusions that something bad is happening. You're so desperate to fix problems that you create them when none exist," Vic said.

"But, how do you explain this?"

"I'm not going to Emily, because I don't know. But just cause I don't know doesn't mean that something bad has happened," Vic said. He could see that the answer had not satisfied Emily, and that she was frustrated, so he continued.

"Just keep looking for Janice. I'm sure she probably knows what's going on. If you're really concerned, just stay around the inn tonight. But I do not see what else we can do about this until we find Janice, and I'm not going to cancel Bobby's party just to find out that Adam and Robin decided to run away together." Vic smiled at that last part, as it was clearly a joke, but Emily just looked at him with a disappointed look.

Emily was trying to think of something to say to convince him that he should be more concerned, but she knew that suggesting that people were going missing without more evidence was unreasonable. And she knew that Vic was right, she didn't want to ruin Bobby's party over nothing. When Emily didn't reply, Vic shrugged his shoulders and left.

Emily sat down on Adam's bed and tried to decide what to do next. She really wished she had asked Alli and Mary to come back with her from the hike.

* * *

The group from the beach arrived back at the hotel not long after Emily. The group had taken it slow to allow Amy and Joey to catch them, so they arrived at the hotel together. Cort immediately headed to his room.

"Lewis, come hang out for a while," Nicky insisted.

"I think I'm going to go up to my room and let my dad know I'm back," Lewis said after looking over the group in the lounge.

"Well, if you come back down for dinner come find us, OK," Nicky said.

"I will," Lewis said and headed upstairs.

Lissa and Joey had gone straight to the bowl of chips on the coffee table, and Lissa was telling everybody what they had done at the beach, most of the time with her mouth full. Amy had taken a seat next to Denise, and looked very tired from the walk. Nicky took a seat next to Amber and also began digging into the bowl of chips.

"Don't eat too many of those you two, we're still going to have dinner," Amy said to her children. "Speaking of which, did Chrissy tell anyone what the plan for dinner tonight is?"

"I think she had planned on Tina making something, but no one has seen her all day," Denise said.

"The caterer is missing?" Kyle asked.

"Well, maybe," Denise replied. "Chrissy and Bobby were supposed to meet with her earlier today to make final plans for the reception, but she wasn't around. Speaking of which, Amy, if the caterer did take off for the mainland, would you help me put together the reception tomorrow."

Amy was a bit surprised by Denise's request which came out of nowhere. "Sure, if all of the food is here we should be able to do that," Amy said. "Do you really think the caterer left the island?"

"She must have," Denise replied. "I cannot imagine she would have gone anywhere else on the island."

"But how would she have left the island?" Amber asked skeptically.

"I don't know, nor do I know why she would leave without say anything about leaving," Denise replied. They all sat there considering this. When Lissa thought the silence had lasted too long, she began telling everyone more about the stuff they had done at the beach.

* * *

Bobby saw Lewis in the hallway coming back from the beach. Bobby was already to go to his party, but wanted to do one more thing before he left, and Lewis walking down the hall was perfect timing.

"Hey bro, I need to talk to you," Bobby said as Lewis continued down the hall.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Well, I was wondering something, and wanted to make sure you said yes," Bobby said to his younger brother.

"OK, what is it?" Lewis said hesitantly.

"Well, your seventeen now, and I was wondering if you wanted to come to my party tonight?"

Lewis hadn't expected this. He had assumed that the party would be an adults- only event. In fact, he had asked his father if they were going, and Allen had told him that it would only be for Bobby and his adult friends. Normally, Lewis wouldn't have even wanted to go to a party, but he had not been able to spend much time with his brother, and he had such a great time at the beach. So he was more willing to take a chance at having fun.

"Sure, I'd love to go," Lewis said.

"Really, great," Bobby said, shocked that his brother had agreed so willingly. "Now, let's not get too excited, we still need to convince Dad to let you go."

"Do you think he'll let me?" Lewis asked.

"Only one way to find out." The two went into Allen and Lewis' room to find Allen reading in a chair.

"Ah, boys. Lewis, those do not look like hiking clothes," Allen said.

"Oh, yeah, I decided to go to the beach instead," Lewis replied.

"Excellent, did you have a good time."

"Yeah, it was great." It was clear to Bobby that Lewis honestly meant that, as opposed to most of the time when Bobby knew that Lewis would say he enjoyed himself when he really had not.

"Very good, you'll have to tell me all about it. Bobby, did you ever track down your caterer?"

"No sir, not yet," Bobby said. "We are really starting to get concerned now, but I'm taking the evening off from wedding stuff and am getting ready to head off to the bachelor party.

"And on that note, I know you said you did not want to come, though, you're more then welcome to, but I think Lewis should come," Bobby said matter-of-factly.

"What? Well, Lewis, do you want to go?" Allan asked.

"Yeah, actually I do want to, if you'll let me," Lewis said hesitantly.

"Sure, on two conditions Bobby," Allen said. "The first is that Lewis comes back here as sober as he left. And two, that he comes back as pure as he left. I know your friends Vic and Bruce have something planned, and I would like it if Lewis is not involved in that. And, I want you to escort him back here when its time for him to come back."

"Deal," Bobby said. "Lewis, you have time for a quick shower, so go to it." Lewis complied and gathered some clothes and went into the bathroom. "I'm going to go see if Vic and Bruce are ready and tell them to wait up."

"Sure, but Bobby, I wanted to tell you one more thing," Allen said. "I just wanted to say that the way you look out for your younger brother is just another reason why I am so proud of you this weekend." Allen was standing, and he gave Bobby a long hug.

"Thanks Dad," Bobby said as he left the room. Outside, Vic and Bruce were waiting in the hall.

"We need to wait a bit longer before we head over, my brother is coming along," Bobby said to them.

"We are getting such a late start, I don't think a few extra minutes will matter," Vic said. "Does anybody know where Tom and Kyle are?"

"Kyle is downstairs, and I think someone said that Tom was out by the pool with Julie," Bruce said.

"Good. Bruce, go ahead and knock on Daniel's door upstairs and tell him we are leaving soon," Vic said. "He asked me to let him know. Then go grab Tom, Kyle, and our special guest and head over. Maybe by the time Lewis is ready, Ray will be back."

Bruce headed off to go collect everyone, while Vic and Bobby discussed their days. Not long after, Cort emerged from his room. He was wearing a large jacket.

"Hey Cort, do you want to reconsider on the party tonight?" Bobby asked.

"No thanks, I need to go for my walk," Cort said as he walked on by Bobby and Vic.

"OK. He's kind of an odd fellow, you know," Vic said after Cort was outside of earshot.

"Yeah, but I guess he is family, even though I don't know him at all," Bobby replied.

* * *

Ray had tried to brace himself for what he would find at the top of the hill. In his mind, he knew that hearing two gunshots coming from the direction of where Hurbert and Pamela had gone could certainly mean that they had been killed. But Ray still wasn't quite prepared for seeing Hurbert's head with the face missing. Ray vomited the limited contents of his stomach.

It was clear Hurbert was dead, but Ray was less clear on Pamela. Ray could see that she had been shot in the back and wasn't moving, but in Ray's mind he still wasn't sure if she was completely dead. He walked over to her body, and while trying to avoid the large puddle of blood, took Pamela's pulse. Not finding one, Ray was sure she was dead.

Ray sat down a short ways from the bodies. Running nearly the entire way to the top of the hill had left him incredibly light headed. Along with the shocking scene, he was finding it hard to think. He finally decided to walk over to Hurbert's and Pamela's bags and to find some water. That helped him regain his senses.

He then remembered that he had heard a motorized vehicle going down the trail to where Sara had been. He wished now that he had never run to the top of the hill. His curiosity just had to be satisfied, but there was absolutely nothing he could do here, and he was that much farther from the inn and now separated from Sara, who could be in danger. In his guilt, he got up and began running down the mountain as the sun began to set.

* * *

Cort had walked by everyone in the lounge unnoticed and left the inn. He decided to take a left onto a path he hadn't explored yet. He walked at a good pace on the flat trail.

Cort had a reason for finally coming out of his home and coming to the wedding. Six months earlier, he had a heart attack and had almost died. This was the reason he was walking, to try and lose weight and become healthier. Over the past 6 months, he had lost 50 pounds by walking in his neighborhood late at night.

After the heart attack, he decided he did not want to die yet, particularly without making amends with his brother and seeing Bobby again and getting a chance to meet Lewis. When he was invited to the wedding, he knew this was his opportunity to finally reconnect, and he wasn't going to miss it.

The walk was going great. Over the past several months, his walking speed had greatly improved. He had made it a fair distance from the inn in a short period of time.

Then he heard someone behind him. It had sounded like a lighter being ignited. He turned around in time to see the flaming bottle flying at him. He tried to move out of the way, but just tripped and fell down. The bottle hit the ground and became a puddle of flame that quickly set alight his large jacket.

Cort screamed an unnatural scream. The pain was like nothing else he had ever felt, and it was all encompassing. Without really thinking, Cort leapt to his feet and began running on the trail away from where the attack had come. The rational part of his brain had gone silent, and now all that was in control was his primal brain that was solely focused on skin that was burning away. His primal mind thought he could outrun the suffering.

Running only fed the fire. The fat on his body was quickly starting to melt and being soaked up by the cotton in his jacket, causing a wick effect. It would be hours before his body stopped burning, but it was just over a minute before he collapsed to the ground and a few seconds after that when the shock of the event finally caused his heart to stop.

The killer did not stick around for long, heading back to the inn as quickly as possible. The killer hoped Cort's horrible screams had not alerted anyone.

* * *

The sun was now set. Ray was running as fast as he could, but it was becoming harder to pick his feet up off the ground. He was barely able to think and he was barely able to still see where he was going. His foot stepped down on a rock wrong and he lost his balance. He stumble off the trail and went head first into a tree trunk, knocking him out cold.

* * *

**Sara O'Conner - The Snob**

**Courtney Philips (Cort) - The Estranged**

**AN: The next chapter I might be renaming, so I am not releasing the title yet. I actually wrote through the beginning of chapter 10 months ago, but then I got really busy (it takes me a while to edit the chapters, which is the reason I have chapters written that I haven't posted). In the time between writing the chapters and now, I have decided to make changes in the story.**

**Chapter 9 was a really troublesome chapter to write, and I wasn't happy with some of the stuff I had the characters doing. I decided I should re-do chapter 9, but that requires changes in chapter 8 (including the death(s)). I am not sure how many changes yet, but I will try to have the next chapter out next weekend.**


	10. Chapter 08: Thud

**AN: Sorry yet again that it took so long to post this chapter.**

**

* * *

**

Character's Still Alive:

**The Bride and Groom**

Christina Evans (Chrissy) - The Bride

Robert Philips (Bobby) - The Groom

**The Friends of the Bride and Groom**

Emily Stone - The Maid-of-Honor

Victor Ford (Vic) - The Best Man

Allison Little (Alli) - The Athlete

Bruce Kemp - The Partier

Mary Medina - The Sullen

Raymond Cunningham (Ray) - The Go-Getter

Julie Graves - The Outcast

Tom Lane - The Stranger

**The Bride's Family**

Amy Marshall - The Tyrant

Denise Arnold - The Peacekeeper

Amber Evans - The Tease

Nicole Evans (Nicky) - The Risk Taker

Daniel Marshall - The Mogul

Kyle Arnold - The Good Son-In-Law

Melissa Marshall (Lissa) - The Flower girl

Joseph Marshall (Joey) - The Ring bearer

**The Groom's Family**

Allen Philips - The Reverend

Lewis Philips - The Loner

**Others**

Dorothy Rose - The Stripper

* * *

Chapter 08: Thud

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Nicky asked Amber. The two were still sitting on the couch in the lounge. Amy was trying to get her kids corralled so she could get them upstairs and cleaned up, but Lissa kept on wanting to tell Denise one more thing about the beach. Bruce had come downstairs and collected Kyle, and the two of them had headed outside to the pool patio area.

"No… well maybe. It kinda sounded like the wind," Amber said after trying to listen.

"I thought it sounded like a scream," Nicky said.

Just then, Daniel came down the stairs. When Lissa and Joey noticed him, they screamed for their daddy and ran to him. He picked them both up and gave them each a kiss. Nicky noticed that Amy at first seemed surprised to see her husband, and then seemed angry. Amy walked over to him.

"I thought you would still be on the hike," Amy said.

"I decided to come back early so I wouldn't be late for the party tonight," Daniel replied while still holding both of his children.

"Well, can you help me get the kids cleaned up at least, before you go," Amy said more sternly.

"I'm sorry, but we are leaving right now," Daniel responded.

"OK kids, daddy has to go, so let's get upstairs and get cleaned up," Amy said, taking Lissa's and Joey's hand and going upstairs without giving Daniel another word. Both children look disappointed that their dad was not sticking around. Daniel watched them go up the stairs.

Bruce, Kyle, and Julie came in from the patio right after Amy left. Julie was in her swimsuit and looked like she had just gotten out of the pool.

"He should be down any moment," Julie said to Bruce and Kyle.

"So, are we almost ready to go," Daniel said to the group that just entered.

"Yeah, we're just waiting on Tom," Bruce said. "I guess he's up in his room getting ready."

"Nope, I'm right here," Tom said walking down the stairs.

"Cool. Vic and Bobby are coming as soon as Lewis is ready," Bruce said to his group. "So let's get going. We need to go out the back way and walk down with our other guest."

Tom went over to Julie and gave her a kiss and said goodbye, while Kyle did the same with Denise. The group then headed off to the back of the inn. Nicky was very interested to hear that Lewis was going to the party. Then, after all of the commotion in the lounge was done, she remembered the sound she had heard earlier.

"So Amber, do you want to come with me to go check out what that screaming sound was?" Nicky asked.

"Seriously, we can go wonder the forest in the dark. Hmm, think I'll take a pass," Amber replied sarcastically.

"Anyways little sis, you need to go upstairs and take a shower and get ready for dinner," Denise said. Then to Julie who was still in the room drying off. "Julie, will you join us for dinner?"

"Sure, I'd like that," Julie said. "I just need to go take a shower. Come on Nicky, I'll walk up with you." Nicky got up and headed upstairs with Julie, while Denise and Amber headed to the kitchen. Nicky, though, couldn't get the thought of the sound she heard out of her head.

* * *

Mary and Alli arrived back at the inn to find the lobby and lounge empty. They heard some noise coming from the kitchen so they went there. They found Denise and Amber inside making food. Alli asked them if they had seen Emily.

"Yeah, she got back a while ago," Denise said. "I think she's upstairs. We're making dinner for everyone, and it should be ready in about 45 minutes. So come back down and bring Emily and Chrissy, and anybody else with you."

They said they would and went upstairs. They found Emily just leaving her room and heading to Chrissy's room. She looked like she was just getting out of the shower. When Emily saw them, she rushed over to them.

"I'm so happy to see you two," Emily said to them.

"What did you find out?" Mary asked.

"Not much, and if anything, things may be worse then I thought," Emily said. "I haven't been able to find Janice or Troy. And it sounds like Janice just up-and-disappeared from the tour. Also, Adam is gone along with his luggage, just like Robin."

"Did you tell anybody, because we talked to Denise and Amber downstairs and they didn't seem concerned about anything," Mary said.

"I told Vic, but he thought I was overreacting," Emily said. "I'm not sure, maybe there is an explanation for all of this, but I do not want to mention anything about this to Chrissy or her family yet. I don't want to upset Chrissy right before the wedding unless I'm sure. We just need to stick together and quietly try and figure out if anyone else is missing."

"That may be hard, since it sounds like the guys have already headed over to the bachelor party," Alli said.

"We can just do what we can for now. By the way, where is everyone else from the hike? And did you two hear anything on the trail on your way back, like a motorcycle?"

"We came back before everyone else," Alli said. "I think Hurbert and Pamela were planning on being back late tonight, but with how much Sara was complaining, I think her and Ray may come back sooner. And no, we didn't hear anything like that, did you?"

"Yeah, I thought I did and I know there shouldn't be any motorbikes or ATVs on the island." Emily let Alli and Mary think about this new piece of information before continuing. "I'm going to go talk to Chrissy and find out how her day went, you two want to come?"

"Sure, I'll pop in for a second, but I want to take a shower before dinner," Alli said. They headed to Chrissy's room and knocked on the door. When Chrissy answered, she was wearing her wedding dress.

"Hey guys, how was the hike?" Chrissy asked.

"It was nice. Why are you wearing your wedding dress?" Emily asked as the three entered the room.

"Well, with how badly everything went today, I wanted to make sure that my dress hadn't been torn on the trip here. And I wanted to make sure I still fit into it," Chrissy said.

"What happened today?" Emily asked concerned.

"Well, my caterer is missing. Aside from the fact that the reception is probably ruined, everything's fine."

Alli could see that Mary wanted to pipe in, but Emily gave her a stern look. It was a look that said "Don't say a thing."

"Oh no, that's awful Chrissy, but we will definitely be having a reception for you tomorrow if I have to cook everything myself," Emily said.

"Yeah, Chrissy, don't worry about it. We'll figure something out," Alli said. "And you look great in your dress," Alli added hoping to change the topic.

"Thanks Alli. It is fitting better now then it was a few days ago. I guess not eating and running everyday is the secret to weight loss," Chrissy said, smiling for the first time since her friends had arrived. "By the way, did Theresa go with you guys on the hike?"

"No. She wasn't here today?" Emily asked.

"No," Chrissy replied. "Bobby thought she was at breakfast, but we certainly didn't get a chance to talk to her today. I figured she went on the tour or something, but when I talked to Amber and Kyle, they said she wasn't on the tour. Maybe she went to the beach. I guess I'll ask Nicky. Sounds like Janice is being a bit of a flake too. I'm just getting so stressed."

"Don't worry, I'll track down everybody," Emily said as convincingly as she could. "By this time tomorrow, you're going to be married, and I bet you'll be shocked at how well it all went."

"I hope so. I just get the feeling that something bad is happening. I feel like I said something stupid yesterday, and everyone is pissed off at me for it and I don't know what I did."

"You definitely didn't do anything like that," Emily said. "Come on, let's go downstairs and help get ready for dinner. Denise and Amber are cooking."

"I'll see you guys down their, I just need to take a shower after that hike," Alli said.

"Me too," added Mary. Mary literally looked like she was biting her tongue on the way out the room.

"I'll be just a second, I just need to change out of my dress," Chrissy said. When she had changed, Emily and Chrissy went downstairs.

* * *

Bruce was already barbecuing when Bobby, Vic, and Lewis arrived. The entire group of guys was standing around outside the bar with beers in their hand. Some had even begun smoking cigars. Everyone was hungry since they were eating dinner so late. Vic immediately got out the shot glasses and poured Jäger for everyone, and started handing them out.

"Hey now, Lewis cannot have any," Bobby said as Vic was handing a shot glass to Lewis.

"Yeah, that's OK," Lewis said indifferently.

"Oh, come on, how often is your brother going to get married," Vic said. "One shot isn't going to kill him."

Bobby considered this for a bit, then said, "OK, just one and that's it."

Lewis took the shot hesitantly, but once it was in his hand it was clear he was excited to get a chance to try the drink and to be included with everyone else. Everyone had their shot and Vic gathered everyone together.

"Alright, so this first toast of the evening will be to Bobby. Bobby, it's about time you married that girl. We'll miss you asyou enter the world of marital bliss. We are all really proud of you, but tonight is dedicated to your last night of being single. So here's to Bobby, and his last night of freedom."

Everyone brought their shots together and cheered Bobby then drank the shots. Lewis almost gagged on his.

"Not a fan, huh," Bobby said to Lewis while putting his arm around Lewis' shoulder. "That's alright; Jäger is a pretty harsh drink."

"Feels a bit like my stomach is on fire," Lewis said.

"Yeah, we'll get you some food. That'll make it feel better. Bruce, you almost have some food ready."

"Yup, but the first burger goes inside for our guest, then I'll have everyone else's ready," Bruce replied.

"So, do I get to know yet who this mystery person is," Bobby asked.

"Not quite yet," Vic replied.

* * *

Looking around at the impromptu dinner made the situation seem even more alarming to Emily. What had been a group large enough for five tables the night before was now reduced to two. Most of the absences could be explained away as the bachelor party or those that were still out hiking. But even that was beginning to make her nervous, as she expected that Ray and Sara would have been back by now.

She was sitting at a table with Chrissy, Alli, Mary, Denise, and Amber. At the other table were Julie, Allen, Amy and her kids, and Nicky. Unlike the previous night where they had been spread across the room, they had moved the tables very close for this dinner, leaving the room mostly empty.

Before the dinner had begun, Emily had offered to round everyone up. By that point, everyone she expected from the third floor had come down, so she started on the second floor at Allen's room. When she told him that dinner was almost ready, Allen had tried to find Cort but was unable to.

She had next gone to Eugene and Laura's room. She didn't know whether Eugene had gone to the bachelor party, but she assumed Laura should be around. No one was there. She noted mentally that the last time she had seen them was at dinner the previous night.

She knocked on Theresa's door, and at this point had not expected her to answer. She had learned from Nicky that Theresa had not gone to the beach, so she was completely unaccounted for today.

Denise had also asked her to ask Casey if he wanted to come to dinner, which Emily had noticed made Amber cringe. Emily knocked on his door, and no one answered. She was a bit less worried about him, because he had been on the tour, so he at least had definitely been somewhere today. And maybe he had gone to the bachelor party. Emily hoped that was true.

At dinner, they had managed to cheer Chrissy up considerably. Everyone was at this point well aware that the caterer and photographer were no where to be found. Everyone at dinner said they would help out in anyway they could to make sure the wedding went off without a problem. Chrissy had asked about Robin, and Emily had made up some excuse about her not feeling well. She didn't want Chrissy to get down again, and did not think there was anything anyone could do about Robin at the moment.

The food and the conversation were good for the rest of dinner, but Emily spent most of her time formulating what she would do after dinner.

* * *

Dinner at the bachelor party had been great. Everyone, except for Lewis, had already taken a number of shots, so most of the guys' heads were swimming by the time they moved inside the bar.

Vic and Bruce had a short disagreement on whether they should wait for Ray to show up before moving to the next part of the festivities. Since they had no idea when that would be, Vic had successfully convince Bruce they should move on with the party.

Vic got everyone, except Lewis, another shot once they were all inside. As they took their seats, Vic made sure that Bobby sat in a folding seat in the middle of the group.

"So cheers again," Vic said taking his shot along with everyone else. "It's now time that Bobby get his surprise. I just wanted to say up front that to make this surprise happen, Bruce and I had to clean out our savings and defer our student loans, so you'd better enjoy it."

"I'm sure she'll be worth every penny," Daniel said.

"Wait, maybe I should take Lewis back before we get started," Bobby said, looking over his shoulder to where his younger brother was sitting. Vic also looked at Lewis, who looked plenty excited to find out what was going to happen next.

"Not a chance, Bobby. Lewis is definitely staying," Vic said. "And now, without further ado, may I now present the lovely and titillating, Dorothy Rose."

Dorothy came in from the back of the bar wearing a blouse and skirt with high heels, looking as though she had just come from a corporate office job. As her dance got going, she quickly lost the blouse and the skirt to reveal bright red lingerie. As she removed the top potion of the lingerie, she began giving Bobby a lap dance. Bobby seemed hesitant at first, but started to get into it as it the performance went on.

The group of guys was yelling out various cheers. Vic noticed that Lewis was silent, but completely engrossed. Vic also noted that all of the cheers were good natured and suitable, except that some of Daniels' cheers seemed very rude. It started to annoy Vic as the show went on.

* * *

Denise and Amy were in the kitchen cleaning up from the dinner. Amy had left Amber and Nicky to look after Lissa and Joey, which should not have been too difficult as Joey had already fallen asleep in his chair. Amy was tired from the day, but knew she wouldn't be getting any sleep any time soon.

Denise groaned a bit and put her hand on her pregnant belly.

"Are you not feeling well again?" Amy asked.

"Oh, my baby has just been doing cartwheels all day. The nausea is not too bad right now," Denise replied.

Amy put her hand on Denise's belly and could feel the baby's moments. "That is the one thing I miss about being pregnant, knowing I had a little person inside of me. The nausea, the soreness, and everything else I certainly do not miss," Amy said with a knowing smile.

Denise and Amy spoke about pregnancy and what Amy's experiences had been with both of hers. She tried to put Denise at ease with the various issues she had with her pregnancy. They went on cleaning and talking.

"Amy, is something bothering you?" Denise asked.

Amy was surprised by the question. The errand she had to run later in night was rarely far from her thoughts, but she had thought she had acted fairly normally. She looked at her sister. She wanted more than anything to tell her what was really happening in her life. She wanted to tell about the troubles in her marriage, the affair she had, and the blackmail scheme that was being perpetrated on her. She wanted to spill her guts, and to get some help with this horrible situation she had gotten into. But, she was still so scared to confide in anyone, especially her family. She knew, deep down, that there were members of her family that would love to see her be not so perfect. She definitely trusted Denise, but she also knew that letting anybody know, even Denise, would create the possibility of everyone knowing.

"Oh, I'm just anxious about all the stuff we're going to need to do tomorrow to make sure this wedding goes off well," Amy said. Amy hoped the lie sounded convincing enough.

"Yeah, it's definitely going to be a lot," Denise replied.

"I really like Bobby, him and Chrissy make a great couple," Amy said. "I'm really proud of Chrissy for this wedding."

"Wow, I never would have thought I would see the day when you would say that you were proud of Chrissy for anything," Denise said smiling. "You should really let her know that, it would mean the world to her."

"Chrissy knows I'm proud of her," Amy said. It was a statement, but Amy made it almost sound like a question. "I'll be sure to let her know tomorrow before the wedding. It will be a nice wedding day gift for her on her wedding day."

"It would be perfect," Denise said.

* * *

Emily could hardly wait for everyone to go to bed after dinner. She wanted to do some investigating, and to come up with a game plan with Mary and Alli.

Allen was the first to head off to bed. Not long after, Amy came out of the kitchen and picked up her son, who hadn't stirred for several minutes, and told her daughter it was time for bed. Her daughter didn't really want to go, but Amy insisted.

Denise headed upstairs with Amber and Nicky not long after Amy and her kids. Chrissy, Alli, and Julie had been talking, but Chrissy decided she'd turn in because tomorrow was the big day, and she wanted to be rested. Not long after, Julie got up to leave, but Emily stopped her.

"Julie, I want you to stick around for a bit, if that's alright. I need to talk to you about something."

"Sure Emily, what's up?" Julie asked as she joined the others. Emily then went on to explain all that had happened over the past couple of days as best she could. She listed off all of the people that seemed to be missing, and how some of the rooms were now empty. Julie listened and was clearly becoming more uncomfortable the more she was told.

"It did seem really odd when Janice just took off today. What are you planning to do about all of this?" Julie asked.

"Well, now that everyone else has gone to bed, I think we should open up Laura and Eugene's room, and also Casey's. We need to find out if they ever made it back."

"Wow, that seems a little over the top, Emily," Alli said. "What if you're wrong? I don't think you'd appreciate anyone going through your room without permission."

"I think we're past that point Alli," Emily said. "You have to admit something very wrong is happening. This many people do not just up and disappear on an abandoned island."

"Do you think we should gather everyone and tell them," Julie said. "I mean, go over to the bachelor party right now and get the guys, go wake up everyone upstairs, and then figure out a way off this island."

"I don't want to ruin this weekend for Chrissy if we're wrong," Emily said.

"Chrissy's a big girl; she's not made of glass," Julie said. "If this was my wedding, and people were disappearing, I think I'd want to know."

Emily was shocked by Julie's adamancy. She had forgotten how opinionated her old friend was. She was happy, though, that someone else was taking this whole thing seriously.

"I agree with Julie," Mary said, causing Julie to do a double-take from the agreement from an unexpected quarter.

"Look, I agree, but if we try and breakup a group of drunk guys tonight, there'll be trouble," Emily urged. "Let's just check the rooms tonight and hold tight till morning."

"I'm in for at least checking on the rooms," Julie said.

"I'm out on that," Alli said. "You may be right that something is happening, but you may still be wrong. For all you know, you're going to walk in on Laura and Eugene having sex. Now how embarrassing would that be. I think we should just hold off until morning."

"I'm going to take my chances at this point," Emily said.

"Do you still want me to wake you up to go jogging tomorrow?" Alli asked.

"You cannot be serious. Please don't go jogging in the morning," Emily pleaded.

"I'm not going to live in fear, no matter what. I can take care of myself," Alli said. Alli invited Mary and Julie for the morning jog, but both refused. She wished them luck on searching the rooms and headed off to bed.

"Well, let's go get the keys," Emily said to Mary and Julie.

* * *

Dorothy's dancing continued, as did the heavy drinking of those in attendance, until Bobby announced that he needed to get Lewis back to the inn.

"Already! Come on, there's plenty of night left," Vic said.

"If I don't take him back now, I may not be able to make it to the inn and back myself. And I am definitely taking him back. If I kept him here all night, Allen would kill me. Lewis, are you ready?"

Lewis didn't really want to leave. He was having a great time. It wasn't just taking his first shot of alcohol or Dorothy's dancing, but he had a great time hanging out with his brother and Vic and Bruce. Tom had also been really nice to him. This had been about a perfect day for Lewis, and he felt amazingly.

But he also knew that his father would be really angry if he didn't come back to the inn soon. "OK," was all he said.

Tom, Vic, Bruce, Kyle, and Tom all said goodnight to Lewis.

Dorothy walked over to him and Bobby and she also told him goodnight. She then put her hand on his cheek and brought her lips to his other cheek, right at the corner of his mouth. This almost knocked Lewis over. Everyone at the bar cheered on Dorothy and Lewis, as Bobby laughed and took his brother by the arm to lead him out.

"If your not back soon Bobby, we'll send out a search team," Vic said.

"You do that," Bobby said just outside the doorway.

On the trail back to the inn, Bobby asked Lewis if he had had a good time. Lewis knew he had the stupidest smile on his face when he told his brother he had. Bobby just laughed as he put his arm around his brother.

* * *

Almost immediately after Bobby left with Lewis, Daniel had hopped out of his seat and had sat down in the seat Bobby had left.

"I think it's time the rest of us got to have some fun," Daniel said to Dorothy. Vic had been indifferent to Daniel before the party, but within the last hour he had grown disdainful of the man. The comments that he had called out to Dorothy had clearly made her uncomfortable, and that had not made Vic very happy. It didn't help that Vic had drank so much. Now, Daniel wanted a private dance, and Vic was having none of it.

"I think Mrs. Rose disserves a break, at least until Bobby gets back," Vic said.

"Come on Vic, you said she was expensive, we might as well get your money's worth. I'll even make it more worth her while," Daniel said, pulling the roll of money out of his pocket.

"No, I think I'll take that break," Dorothy said and she began walking to the bar's back room.

"Now, just wait a minute." Daniel said as he got up from his seat and grabbed Dorothy's arm.

Vic grabbed Daniel and spun him around, forcing him to let go of Dorothy. Dorothy stepped backwards a few steps.

"Don't touch Mrs. Rose, Daniel," Vic said sternly. He stared at Daniel's eyes and kept a crooked smile.

"Or what, Vic. What are you going to do about it?" Daniel said with a great amount of machismo. Daniel shoved Vic backwards. Vic didn't need to be invited to a fight twice, and to Daniel's complete surprise, Vic's fists came fast. Vic's first swing connected with Daniel's jaw, the second was on the opposite side of Daniel's face and higher on his cheek. Vic's third punch caught Daniel on the nose and sent Daniel to the ground. Vic was on top of him and he landed two more punches before Bruce pulled him off.

Dorothy was screaming and covering her eyes when the first punch connected. She quickly ran out of the room as the fight continued. Kyle and Tom watched in shock as the fight unfolded before their eyes.

"That's why you don't touch me fucker!" Vic yelled at Daniel as Bruce was pulling him off. Daniel just lay on the ground bleeding from his face.

"Jesus, Vic! Calm down man," Bruce said as he pushed Vic out of the room. "You can't just do that shit."

Kyle rushed to Daniel's side after Bruce had pushed Vic all the way out of the room.

"Daniel, Daniel, are you alright?" Kyle asked with genuine concern.

"What the fuck do you think?" Daniel replied while bringing his hands to his face. Daniel's nose was oozing blood and his face was bright red where Vic's punches had landed.

"I'm going to go check on Dorothy," Tom said as he left the room.

* * *

Amy had put her children to bed. It had not been very difficult after the eventful day they had. She just hoped that eating so soon before bed would not give them bad dreams.

Amy, though, would not get to sleep for a while. The blackmailer had demanded a meeting at 2 AM. So Amy would not be able to sleep until that was done. She desperately hoped that Daniel would not return from the party before the meeting was done. It had been lucky that the party was happening tonight; she just hoped her luck wouldn't turn.

Amy sat on her bed reading and impatiently wishing time would go by faster.

* * *

"Why the fuck did you do that," Bruce asked Vic as he was cleaning him up in the bathroom. "Just because we're on an island doesn't mean that you can't get in big trouble for what you just did."

Vic didn't reply, but instead continued to flex his fingers.

"Did you break anything?" Bruce asked.

"I don't think so," Vic said, and then flashed a smile. "Not on me at least."

Both Vic and Bruce started laughing.

"You have to admit, that motherfucker had it coming," Vic said.

"That didn't mean you had to be the one to bring it."

Vic just shrugged his shoulders at this as he started washing the blood off his hands.

* * *

It had been perplexing for Emily, Mary, and Julie. They had entered both Eugene and Laura's room and Casey's room to find them empty of people, but not of luggage. It had not looked like anyone had been in either room in a while.

"So it's not like Robin's or Adam's rooms. But it is certainly strange," Emily said.

"Maybe if they were killed today, the killer didn't have enough time to clean these rooms," Mary said. Both Emily and Julie looked at her in shock. Thus far, no one had said out loud what might be happening. Now it was out there, and the theory was not alien abduction or tragic accident, but that someone had killed these people. That someone was killing people on the island.

Emily and Julie continued to stare, but did not argue with what Mary had said. They finally left Casey's room in silence.

"So what do we do now," Julie said.

"We wait till morning, when we can tell everybody what we've found," Emily said.

"Not sure I'm going to be able to sleep tonight," Julie said.

"Well, not getting sleep isn't going to help the situation, so try," Emily said as she began to head to her room.

"One more thing," Mary said, stopping Emily. "If I go missing, know that I didn't do so of my own free will. I have no plans on leaving the island, or going off into the middle of the woods. And if I do, I will tell you guys specifically."

"That goes for me too," Julie said.

"And me. Goodnight," Emily said, leaving the other two in the hallway alone.

"Well, goodnight," Julie said.

"Wait, Julie, can I talk to you for a moment," Mary said. "I just wanted to say, and not because all this crazy shit is happening but… I'm really sorry about what I said to you a year ago. I was wrong to destroy our friendship. And I'm also sorry I waited till now to tell you that."

Julie was shocked by Mary's apology. "I'm… Mary, I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have talked behind your back. And I also haven't been a good friend. I shouldn't have just avoided everyone for the last year. I could have taken the initiative, and I didn't."

"Do you think we can be friends again?" Mary asked. Before Julie could answer, they both almost screamed at the sudden appearance of Lewis in the hallway.

"Hey, you nearly scared us to death," Mary said harshly to Lewis.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Lewis said sincerely.

"No, its OK Lewis, we're just a bit on edge. It's not your fault. Goodnight," Julie said waving Lewis down the hallway.

"On that note, I'm going to bed before something else really scary happens," Julie said. "Goodnight Mary, I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight Julie," Mary said. As she headed to her room, she was scared by everything that was going on, but she also felt like a ton of bricks had been removed from her.

* * *

Bobby almost ran into Kyle and Daniel in the doorway of the bar when he returned.

"Whoa! What happened?" Bobby asked seeing Daniel's face.

"Your friends are nuts, Bobby," Kyle said. "Vic attacked Daniel out of nowhere."

"What? He wouldn't…" Bobby started.

"He did," Kyle interrupted. "Your friends are out of control. I'm really nervous about staying on an island with people like that. I cannot believe you put your future family in this situation."

"I… I'm sorry," was all Bobby could manage as Kyle and Daniel walked off back to the inn. Kyle was helping to support Daniel, who was a bit wobbly. Daniel was pressing a bag of ice against his face.

Bobby watched them until they disappeared into the darkness. He walked into the bar's main room to find it empty. Aside from a small number of blood spatters on the floor, there was not much sign of the fight.

"Vic! Bruce! Anybody!" Bobby yelled, but there was no reply.

* * *

"I like what you said to Bobby," Daniel said with a hint of sarcasm. Daniel's statement broke the silence as they walked back the inn in the dark

"Huh?" Kyle replied.

"Yeah, I just liked the way you held the fact that he was joining this family over him," Daniel said. "Holding Bobby responsible for what his friend did, to his face, that took balls. I just wish you had shown that same courage when I was getting my ass kicked."

"What?" Kyle said with surprise.

"I'm just saying that your courage is awfully convenient. So is your 'sticking up for your family' bullshit."

"I'm sorry, things just happened so fast in there that…" Kyle said.

"Save your excuses," Daniel interrupted. "I knew you were a save ass pussy before tonight. What you did at the bar doesn't surprise me. I'm just a bit shocked at the gall you showed getting angry with Bobby just so you could pretend to be on my side."

Kyle and Daniel continued to walk, with Kyle still helping to steady Daniel. Kyle was completely shocked by what Daniel had said to him. His anger was also growing.

"Daniel, I…," Kyle started, when he was interrupted by something long and wooden smashing very hard into his face.

"Huh! What the fuck," Daniel said as he was sent to the ground from Kyle being knocked over. Daniel looked at Kyle. Kyle's face looked awful, but he looked like he was still breathing.

"Kyle… Kyle…," Daniel said as he shook Kyle to wake him. Daniel had only seen what had hit Kyle out of the corner of his eye. It had happened so fast.

Then, Daniel heard the rustling in the forest immediately surrounding the trail.

"Hey, who's there! Is someone there? Answer me!" Daniel yelled. A figure came rushing out of the woods and was on top of Daniel before he could get to his feet. Daniel struggled for a few seconds, but then everything went black for him.

* * *

Amy had cleaned out the suitcase of the children's toys. Unfortunately, the toys would not be making the trip home. Amy wasn't too worried, her kids had plenty of toys and it wouldn't be too expensive to replace the ones they might miss. She was more concerned about her husband realizing that they were returning without one of their bags. Usually, though, her husband wasn't that perceptive about those kinds of things.

Amy removed the internal lining on the bag. She had been proud of herself for the job she had done hiding the money in the suitcase. Laid out in the suitcase the way it was, the half-million dollars looked like a lot of money.

Amy zipped up the bag. Her stomach felt like it was in knots. Before the last few hours, her main fear was having her husband discovering her affair or him finding out that she was giving half-a-million dollars of what he considered his money to a blackmailer. Her fear was now focused on the idea of going into the forest with a bag full of money to meet someone who obviously thought so little of her to blackmail her.

Rationally, she knew it didn't make sense for the blackmailer to hurt her physically. She knew that rationally it made more sense to be concerned that this would not be the end of the blackmail plot, that the blackmailer would take her money tonight and threaten to expose her again tomorrow.

On the other hand, her gut was telling her not to go. If the blackmailer exposed her, they would lose all of their leverage against her. So they were not likely to do that. She was considering not delivering the money tonight and waiting until getting back to the mainland to force the blackmailer to contact her again. Then, maybe she could force a meeting that was at a location of her liking.

In the end, her hope that this would be the end of it and her desire to put this behind her won out, and she decided she would make the delivery.

Amy went into her children's room. They seemed to be sleeping soundly. Unfortunately, she could not just leave and not let them know. She went to Lissa's side of the bed and gently woke her.

"What is it Mommy," Lissa said sleepily.

"Mommy needs to go somewhere for a bit, I'll be right back. If you or Joey need something, Denise is right across the hall. But only disturb her if it's an emergency. OK."

"Um-hum," Lissa responded with her eyes still shut. Amy was kind of happy that she hadn't completely woken her daughter; she just hoped Lissa would know what to do if anything happened.

Amy gave both her daughter and son a kiss and went back into her room, closing the door in-between. She picked up her bag and went into the hallway. She looked around the hall. No one seemed to be up and around. She went ahead and headed downstairs, then out of the inn, to where the meeting would occur.

* * *

Bobby lined up a set of shots for everyone. He had become the bar master and loosened up a bit having returned his younger brother to the inn. But even Bobby was very wobbly at this point. The party was starting to slow down as everyone was reaching their limit. Tom and Vic looked like they were about to pass out. Bruce was even to the point where he was falling down. Dorothy, having come to trust those left in attendance, was joining in on what she hoped was the last drink of the party.

"So, um, what haven't we had a cheer to yet," Vic said, slurring all of his words. "Well, fuck it, here's to all of us," Vic finished causing everyone to clink shot glasses and down there drinks.

Tom sat down on the couch after his drink. His head lulled backwards, and no one else saw him move for the remainder of the evening. Bobby sat in a folding chair, intermittently dozing off. Dorothy sat another folding chair beside him and he lay down on the two chairs in a position which would have seemed incredibly uncomfortable if he had been sober.

Bruce stumbled outside to the patio, mumbling something about wanting to see the stars. Vic tried to pour himself another shot, but Dorothy stopped him. Not long after, he passed out.

Dorothy sat on a folding chair and wondered how long she should wait. Vic and Bruce had already paid her, and she didn't expect that anyone would want anymore dancing. She decided to get up and get fully dressed. Then she waited and wandered if Troy would be awake and if he might take her back to the mainland early. She was thinking that when she too fell asleep.

* * *

Amy waited on the path. The note had said there would be a light on the trail and to wait there. As the note had said, there was a flashlight hanging from a tree, but the blackmailer had yet to show themselves.

She looked at her watch. She had been waiting for ten minutes, and getting a worse feeling with each moment that passed. If she was meeting someone to receive five hundred thousand dollars, she would show up on time.

As she waited, she considered what she would say to the blackmailer. She hadn't decided yet if she would act tough and make threats against them if they took the money and still exposed her, or if she would plead for them to honor the deal after she had given them the money. She had no idea which would work better.

Amy had no idea that she would never get the chance to plead or act tough. A figure stood just out of range of the light off of the path studying Amy as she stood there. The figure decided that Amy had been kept waiting for long enough.

The figure approached Amy through the brush. There was no hiding the sound of moving through the rough ground by the trail, so Amy turned towards the sound. Amy had a flashlight of her own, and shined it on the approaching person. The figure that emerged from the brush was wearing a mask.

Amy hesitantly began speaking. "I have been waiting here since a bit before one. I was wondering if you were going to… No, wait…," and then she screamed as the figure brought the crowbar down hard on the top of her. Amy had brought her arms up to block the blow, but enough of the crowbar struck her head to knock her to the ground and to cause her to lose consciousness.

The figure picked up the bag of money and headed off towards the inn, leaving Amy bleeding and unconscious on the trail.

* * *

The killer was now in their full body plastic gear. They had taken the time to put the rubber bands on the getup, so that the baggy plastic suit would not make too much noise. They had practiced putting on the outfit numerous times and moving around, as moving silently in this costume was an acquired skill.

The killer walked down the hallway nearly silently, knowing that the slight sound they were making was not audible enough to be heard by the occupants in the rooms. The killer stopped in front of the desired room and prepared themselves. The killer wanted to open the door as little as possible to prevent too much light from rushing in, but enough to be able to get into the room without scrapping the two duffle bags they were carrying on the door or door frame.

The killer was prepared. They put their special key in the lock and turned it slowly. The killer then took a deep breath, opened the door as narrowly as they could and glided into the room. They closed the door quickly, but quietly, behind them.

The killer knew there would be light in the room, which worked to their advantage. The light from the hallway had not caused as dramatic of a change to the light level in the room as the killer had worried it would, and the light would help them work. The problem with the light was that the killer could not effectively hide in the darkness from the room's occupants.

The killer stood still and looked over at the bed. The occupants lay still. Nothing suggested that they had awoken, but the killer counted the seconds in their head, standing still and watching for a full five minutes. Once the killer was sure that Lissa and Joey were in a deep sleep, they slowly and silently moved over to the bed to begin their work.

* * *

Kyle awoke groggy, and in searing pain. His abdomen hurt horribly. He moaned and looked down. As he moaned, more of his intestines dislodged and hit the ground with an audible plop.

The horror of what he had just barely been able to see happen, along with the intense pain, caused him to nearly hyperventilate. This caused even more of his innards to fall from his body. It took Kyle a few minutes to finally regain his composure.

He tried to stay as still as possible. His eyes were leaking tears in a steady stream, but he tried his hardest not to sob or have any irregularity to his breathing.

Kyle tried to assess his situation. He was standing nearly upright, but at a slight angle forward to towards the ground. He was against a tree. He was gagged with what he thought was piece of cloth in his mouth being held in with tape. He didn't seem to be able to move his arms or feet away from the tree. From the pain he was feeling in his wrists and ankles, it felt like they had nails through them. He couldn't tell for sure, as he couldn't look up far enough to see his wrists, and it was too dark to see all the way to his ankles.

Kyle stayed still for several minutes, and was rewarded by nothing additional falling from his body. The pain did not relent, though, and the discomfort of gravity tugging at his entrails made him desperately want to move.

He remembered that he had been walking with Daniel. Maybe he was still close by. Kyle tried to make as much noise as he could without moving and through the gag. It sounded loud to him, but it wasn't.

The thought then hit Kyle that Daniel may be in the same condition he was in. Kyle's desperation grew, and he tried harder to scream. He hoped someone at the bar or at the inn would hear. But no one ever did.

* * *

**Deaths:**

**Kyle Arnold - The Good Son-In-Law**

**AN: Luckily I was able to keep most of this chapter intact, as most of what I needed to change was in the second half of the chapter. I spent a good amount of time figuring out what I want to have happen over the next couple of chapters and I think I have the upcoming chapters back on track to get to the ending I want.**

**The next chapter may take a bit longer to put together, so I am guessing it may be end of next week.**

**Next Chapter is Chapter 9: Kaboom.**


	11. Chapter 09: Kaboom

**AN: Wow! It has been a long time since I posted. I apologize to anyone who has read any of this for the long delay.**

**I actually wrote this chapter back in December (when I posted chapter 8). I try to be at least one chapter ahead of writing, so I have actually taken this long to write chapter 10. I just finished chapter 10 today, so I can finally post chapter 9.**

**Thanks J. for the reviews. I have always intended on finishing this, but it certainly helps motivate me when I get reviews.**

* * *

Character's Still Alive:

**The Bride and Groom**

Christina Evans (Chrissy) - The Bride

Robert Philips (Bobby) - The Groom

**The Friends of the Bride and Groom**

Emily Stone - The Maid-of-Honor

Victor Ford (Vic) - The Best Man

Allison Little (Alli) - The Athlete

Bruce Kemp - The Partier

Mary Medina - The Sullen

Raymond Cunningham (Ray) - The Go-Getter

Julie Graves - The Outcast

Tom Lane - The Stranger

**The Bride's Family**

Amy Marshall - The Tyrant

Denise Arnold - The Peacekeeper

Amber Evans - The Tease

Nicole Evans (Nicky) - The Risk Taker

Daniel Marshall - The Mogul

Melissa Marshall (Lissa) - The Flower girl

Joseph Marshall (Joey) - The Ring bearer

**The Groom's Family**

Allen Philips - The Reverend

Lewis Philips - The Loner

**Others**

Dorothy Rose - The Stripper

* * *

**Chapter 9: Kaboom**

* * *

The killer stood in the hallway, still in their full body plastic gear, considering their next move. Dealing with Lissa and Joey had taken longer then they had estimated it would take and had not gone quite according to plan. The killer would have preferred to simply go to bed. In fact, the killer was not looking forward to the next kill at all. But this kill was important in its own way. The killer may still be able to make up for their mistakes of the evening.

It was still dark out, so as with the children's room the killer had to creep inside this room carefully and quickly. Even in the dark, the killer could tell the figure in the bed was in a deep sleep. The person in the bed hadn't stirred a bit.

The killer took a small rag and a vial from the bag they still carried with them and poured the contents of the vial onto the rag. They crept to the head of the bed and looked down on their victim. The killer knew they could not hover for too long, or their victim might wake from the smell of the rag, but they also knew they had too line this up perfectly.

When the killer was set, they plunged the rag down onto the victim's face, over their mouth and nose. The victim's eyes shot open and they were able to struggle for a few second before the chloroform took effect. The victim was only able to get one weak scream off into the rag.

The killer quickly put the rag into a plastic bag and returned it to the bag. They withdrew a gun from the bag and waited to make sure they did not hear any signs of distress from anyone hearing their victim's slight scream. There was no noise from the hallway, so after a few minutes the killer put the gun into the bag and withdrew a syringe, a small rubber hose, a long piece of nylon rope, and a smelling salt capsule.

The killer tied the small rubber hose around the victims arm and found the vein. They gently injected the solution of pancuronium bromide into the victim. The solution should give the killer at least three hours of complete paralysis for the victim. The killer wouldn't need that much time, but better safe than sorry.

The killer repositioned the victim's body, so that the victim was on their back and the victim's head lolled over the foot of the bed. The killer cut the victim's night clothes from their body and placed a pillow under the victim's lower back. The killer tied the victim's arms to the bed posts at the foot of the bed and the victim's legs to the highest spot on the head board. This made sure the victim did not slip off the bed during the procedure, and caused the victim's body to be completely inclined. It was important that the blood from the procedure flow in a particular direction.

When the killer was satisfied with how the victim was positioned, they retrieved the smelling salts and broke it near the victim's nose. The victim did not move, but the killer knew that just because the victim was motionless, did not mean they weren't fully aware. The killer forced the victim's eyelids open and shown the flashlight into the victim's eyes. The killer was satisfied with tear drops they saw and the slight response of the pupils.

* * *

Alli woke to a horrible smell that burned her nostrils. She desperately wanted to plug or rub her nose, but found that she couldn't move her arms. Alli felt tears form in her eyes, but they seemed to just collect in the corners' of her eyes.

Her body felt weird to her, mainly because it was in an awkward position. She also found that along with her arms and the rest of her body, she did not seem to be able to open her eyes. The fear of the situation she found herself in caused her heart rate to jump extremely high.

Alli could hear someone moving around in the room with her, even though it was very quiet. It faintly sounded like plastic rubbing together. Alli felt the person force her eyelids open, and then everything turned from darkness to painful brightness. She was essentially blind for a couple of minutes. When her sight returned she saw the room was still completely black. The figure in the room with her turned the flashlight on a couple of times, but mostly left it off, or pointed elsewhere at her body. With the way that Alli's head was laying off the foot of the bed, she wasn't able to see who the figure was.

Alli tried to speak, but found that she could not. She desperately wanted to scream, but nothing came out.

The figure stood by Alli's head and Alli could feel the killer touching her chest with something that felt sharp and metallic. Then the pain began. It was clear to Alli that the figure was cutting into her, and it felt deep. The pain of being cut into was some of the worst pain Alli had ever felt. The figure seemed to be cutting a deep Y into her that extended from her diaphragm to the tops of collar bones. To Alli's horror, the figure seemed to need to retrace the lines they were cutting to get them deep enough, and the pain only intensified when the knife scraped directly on her bones.

The figure finally stopped cutting, and seemed to be fiddling with something else. Alli's tears were flowing freely now. Blood also seemed to flow freely. Alli could feel it flowing into her hair and clumping it together, and she could hear it as it ran from her hair and to the floor.

The figure put something long and sharp against her chest and pressed hard. There was a loud crack. To Alli, it felt like she had just been hit with a baseball bat in the chest.

Alli barely had time to recover before the next horror began. The figure put a new metallic object in the middle of her chest. As the figure fiddled with the object, the soreness from the previous cutting and cracking was exacerbated. Then the pain became even more intense then Alli had ever felt before.

Alli could feel her chest being force open. She could feel the ripping and tearing of muscles and ligaments. She could feel the horror of having her quickly beating heart and rapidly breathing lungs be restrained only by the air of the room.

With all of the pain, Alli lost track of what the figure was doing. It was still so dark in her room. Alli barely realized what they were doing before the figure was at the door, which was directly in front of Alli's field-of-vision, and was preparing to exit. The figure opened the door briefly, which allowed light from the hall to shoot into the room. The figure then exited quickly and the door closed quietly, leaving Alli in the darkness of her room.

Alli lost all concept of time as she lay there bleeding, with the pain and discomfort of what had been done to her. She was barely aware she was in the Lighthouse Inn, or that she was here to attend a wedding. She was also barely aware that so many of her friends were so close. She just stared forward as the blood loss finally caused her mind to stop entirely.

* * *

Dorothy woke up just past 4 in the morning. She hadn't planned on falling asleep, so she woke in a bit of a panic. She gathered up her things and quickly looked around the room. All of the guys looked like they were passed out in the same position that she remembered them being in when she fell asleep.

She hadn't drunk enough to still be inebriated, but she certainly had a headache. She definitely wanted to get back to her room at the inn because she had some aspirin in her bag there. She walked out onto the patio to find Bruce sitting in a chair with his chin lying on his chest. Bruce had drooled a bit onto his shirt. She considered waking someone up to tell them she was leaving, but decided it was best to let them sleep.

She walked quickly on the trail back to the inn. It was fairly uneventful until she reached a part of the path where there was the distinct smell of feces. She had no interest in finding out what was causing that smell, so she hurried even faster to get away from it.

Then she saw something horrible in the middle of the trail. Even from a distance, Dorothy was able to tell that the thing in the road was a body. She broke into a jog until she got close to the body on the path, then she approached cautiously. Dorothy could tell that the body was female. Dorothy hadn't met any of the other women on the island so she had no idea who this person was.

Dorothy knelt down beside the body and was about to see if the body had a pulse when it moved. Dorothy shot upright and let out a slight scream, then after regaining control of herself she began shaking the unconscious woman.

"Hey! Hey! Are you alright? You need to wake up," Dorothy said insistently. She looked the woman over, noting the nasty looking injury on the woman's head. In Dorothy's world it was unfortunately not uncommon to see woman who had been beaten, and this woman definitely looked like that to her.

After the woman did not come to for a bit, Dorothy considered going to the inn for help, or back to the bar. Just before she was about to leave, the woman started coming to.

"Where am I?" the woman asked.

"You're on Sheppard's Island, in the forest. Do you know your name?"

"Amy," the woman said, and then giving Dorothy a strange look. "Who are you?"

"I'm Dorothy. I'm, er, well I'm a friend of Vic and Bruce."

"I need to get back to the inn. I have to get back to my children," Amy said as she started to get up but then fell back down.

"Careful, you have a nasty gash on your head. Do you know how you got that," Dorothy asked.

Amy put her hand up to her head and felt around the injury, wincing in pain. They sat there for a bit and then Amy tried to stand again and was successful. With Dorothy's help, they were able to make it back to the inn.

They went into Dorothy's room with Dorothy's insistence. Dorothy then went to find a first aid kit, which she found behind the front desk. Returning to her room, Dorothy found Amy washing the wound. Dorothy sat down with the first aid kit and opened it when they both heard a horrible scream.

* * *

"Bruce, wake up."

Bruce continued not to stir.

"Bruce, come on, the weddings today and you're going to be late."

That caused Bruce to open his eyes and say, "What time is it?"

"Oh, it's still early, but I think we need to go now if we want to make it in time."

Bruce's eyes didn't seem to be focusing very well, nor did he seem to have much awareness. He seemed to be doing everything he could to stay barely conscious.

"Bruce… Bruce… How are you feeling?"

"I think I'm still drunk," Bruce replied. "I don't think I've been this fucked up in years."

"You need something to wake you up. I think I've got something that will bring you back quick."

"All I need is more sleep," Bruce said.

"No, no, no. No time for that." The person pulled out a glass flask and picked up a glass tumbler. The person very carefully poured about four ounces into the tumbler. "Now, you have to drink this all down for it to work."

"What is this? The fucking magic cure," Bruce chuckled. "Is this shit going to make me throw up or something."

"Maybe, but would that be so bad at this point?" The person held the glass out but pulled it back when Bruce grabbed for it quickly. "Be careful now. You cannot spill any of this."

Bruce's eyes focused a bit and he gave the person a smile. Bruce put his hand out slowly and the person carefully put the tumbler into his hand.

"Take it just like a shot, all at once."

Bruce looked at the glass and considered it for a moment, then took the drink down as he had done so many before.

"Wow, that shit buhhhh," Bruce said, his voice giving out on the end of the sentence. Bruce laid his head back, and the person took the glass from him. Bruce continued to sit there for over a minute before his eyes shot open and he grabbed for his throat. He fell off the front of his chair and began writhing around on the ground. He tried to speak, but what he was saying only came out as raspy grunts. The 90% solution of hydrofluoric acid had done enough damage to Bruce's vocal cords to prevent speech.

Bruce continued to lie on the ground clutching his stomach. The he pulled himself into a crawling position and began crawling towards the killer. The killer stepped out of the way just in time as Bruce vomited much of the toxic substance right where the killer had been standing.

Vomiting did Bruce no favors, as it only exposed his esophagus to the acid again. His nose felt like it was on fire because some of the vomit had travelled through his nasal cavity. Additionally, now when he breathed in, the toxic fumes from the acid were entering his lungs. Bruce continued to let out silent screams as he rolled in his own toxic vomit.

Bruce went into shock after about ten minutes. A few minutes later, his heart stopped. Not that there hadn't been enough damage done by the acid to kill him even if he hadn't died from cardiac arrest. The killer watched it all anxiously. This had been a very interesting death to watch, but nerve racking with so many people passed out inside the bar.

The killer dragged Bruce's body off of the patio and laid his body against the building. A trail of blood and vomit led from the patio to Bruce's body.

* * *

Ray woke up in a daze, unable to remember where he was or how he got there. His joints and muscles ached horribly, but nothing hurt as badly as his head. He rubbed his head in a useless attempt to make it feel better, and when he brought his hand back down he found that his hand was covered with dried blood.

He was beginning to remember running around on the trail but it took a while for him to remember anything about why he was doing that. Then he remembered the bodies of Hurbert and Pamela. He also remembered Sara.

As much as he wanted to get up and start running down the mountain again, his body wouldn't allow him to. He was horribly dehydrated and hungry, so it took him several more minutes before he was able to pull himself to his feet.

He was very dizzy when he stood up and almost fell back down. He wondered how bad the wound on his head was. He started walking down the path towards inn as fast as he could, but his speed was slow for a walk.

* * *

Nicky woke to her alarm. She looked over to Amber, who was in a bed next to hers. Amber had also woken from the alarm, and she gave Nicky a very angry look before turning over in bed presumably to go back to sleep.

Nicky was certainly a morning person. In no time, she was changed into her running clothes and out of her room. She went downstairs to the lobby area to wait for the others. Nicky was not entirely sure who all would be jogging. She was pretty sure that Chrissy was not coming this morning with the busy day she was going to have. Nicky was also pretty sure Alli and Emily were planning on going. Alli had told her that she was planning to be ready by 5, so Nicky made sure to be ready and in the lobby by 4:45 just to make sure she didn't miss out.

Nicky sat in the lounge and waited. Five AM came and went, and Nicky started to get anxious. She thought that maybe they had decided not to go and had just not told her, which frustrated her. Nicky continued to wait till past 5:30, when she decided to go upstairs to see if anyone was up.

The hallway was as quite as when she had come down the stairs. Nicky considered going running on her own, but running wasn't really her thing. She liked more exciting athletic activities. The main reason she wanted to go running was because it was something she could do with Chrissy and Chrissy's friends where she would be in her element.

Nicky decided she would see if Alli was even up. Nicky couldn't see the harm in that. If Alli had overslept, Nicky figured that she would appreciate being woken up. And if Alli and the others had decided not to go running, then Alli would understand Nicky trying to wake her up. Nicky didn't foresee Alli getting upset or anything else bad coming of it.

Nicky made her way down the hall to Alli's room. When she approached Alli's door, there was an odd, squishy sound from under her sneakers. She looked down and saw the discoloration of the hallway's carpet coming from Alli's room. When Nicky stepped on the puddle, a red liquid was pushed out of the carpet around her shoe. Nicky stepped out of the puddle, not really thinking it was anything other than a spill of some sort.

Nicky also noted that the door was not completely closed. Nicky gently knocked on Alli's door but did not get a response. She tried again a bit louder. Nicky didn't want to be too loud since others were still asleep. Still there was no answer and no sound of movement. Nicky considered leaving it, but she was now curious about what the liquid might be and why the door was slightly open. She decided to push the door open a bit.

"Alli?" Nicky said quietly as she opened the door. The scene in the room took several seconds for Nicky to process before she let out a scream that was louder, and unlike any that she had ever produced before in her life.

* * *

Tom woke up to the sound of screaming. The screams sounded like a male voice. Tom looked around the room. Bobby was beginning to stir, but there was no sign of Vic or Dorothy.

Tom stood up quickly, causing his head to throb. He felt awful. When he got his feet firmly underneath him, he headed outside.

The patio was covered with bloody vomit. It looked like something out of a horror movie. He followed the trail of vomit to where Vic was sobbing, and immediately understood what was wrong.

Bruce's body was in a seated position leaning again the building. He was clearly dead. At first, Tom wondered if Bruce had drowned on his own vomit, because it looked like it was all around the inside of his mouth, which gaped open. Then he realize that what he was seeing on the inside of Bruce's mouth were burns, awful burns which had caused much of the flesh out his tongue to dissolve away.

"Don't touch him!" Tom said to Vic while pulling him away from Bruce.

"Leave me alone," Vic said, trying to crawl back to where his friend's body.

"I'm sorry, but I think he drank something toxic. Did you get any of his blood on you?" Tom asked, hoping that Vic would listen. Vic looked at his hands, and they indeed had Bruce's blood on them. "Come on, we have to wash your hands off now."

As they came around the corner, Bobby came out of the bar.

"What's happened?" Bobby asked.

"Don't go over there," Tom said firmly.

"Why not?"

"Bruce is dead," Vic said with what sounded like a mix of sadness and anger. Bobby did not heed Tom's command and went to where Bruce's body was. He squatted down next to him and had a look of disbelief. Tom yelled over to Bobby telling him not to touch the body because it may be toxic.

Tom picked up a blanket which had gone unused the previous night and took it out to Bruce's body and covered it. Bobby was still there staring at the body. Tom didn't know what to say to him.

"What do you think happened?" Bobby asked in a distant sounding voice.

"He drank something, must have been toxic. I didn't see anything obvious on the patio. We cannot stay here, though. We have to get back to the inn and call the mainland."

Tom helped Bobby get up and they walked to where Vic was. Vic had stopped crying, and now just stared into the forest.

"What about all this stuff, should we take it back to the inn?" Bobby asked.

"No, leave it. If there's anything we need, we'll come back," Tom said. All three of the men had horrible headaches and were not completely steady on their feet, but they began walking on the trail to the inn with good speed.

* * *

Emily woke to the sound of screaming. She had not slept very well with the thoughts and concerns from the previous day keeping her mind going more than normal throughout the night. When she heard the horrible scream, she sat up in bed immediately with a rush of adrenalin. She was quickly out of bed and out of her room.

Emily's room was right next to Alli's, so she saw Nicky standing directly in front of Alli's room as she came into the hallway. Nicky was still frantically screaming and staring at Alli's room.

"Nicky," Emily said put her hand on Nicky's shoulder. Nicky did not even look at her and at Emily's touch Nicky broke into a run to her room which was just a few doors down. Nicky unlocked her door faster than Emily would have thought possible, and disappeared into her room slamming the door loudly behind her.

Emily stepped into the doorway of Alli's room, ignoring the squishing sound from under her feet. What she saw was the worst thing she had seen in her life.

Alli lay on the bed naked and with her chest split widely open. Emily could see Alli's stopped heart and her inactive lungs. Alli just stared forward, her face covered in blood. Emily took in the surreal scene for a few minute before she vomited in the hallway.

* * *

Denise entered the hallway, also awoken by Nicky's scream. By the time Denise got into the hallway there were already others there. She had heard Amber and Nicky's door slam shut, knowing it was their room because it was right next to hers. She entered the hall prepared to go to their room to find out what was going on.

As she entered the hallway she could she Julie standing at the door to her room with a highly concerned look on her face. Julie seemed to be looking down the hallway past where Denise was standing. As Denise turned to look in the direction Julie was looking, Mary walked by crying and in clear distress from where Chrissy and Emily were in the hallway.

Denise decided to go quickly to Chrissy to find out what was going on. As Denise reach the two of them, she glanced into Alli's room and knew immediately why everyone was so upset.

Both Chrissy and Emily were crying horribly just outside of Alli's room.

"Chrissy. Chrissy, honey, take Emily into your room. OK," Denise said as she got the two other women to their feet, which took some effort. When they had disappeared into Chrissy's room, Denise had to take a few seconds to suppress her own need to vomit.

Denise thought quickly, and her concern for what had happened went away and was replaced by her concern for who all she had not seen come bolting out of their rooms to find out what was happening. Denise was not completely surprised that she had not woken up next to her husband, because he hadn't been there when she went to bed. But she had expected that he would return at some point in the night.

Her husband, though, was not who she was immediately concerned about. Denise had not seen her parents, Amy, Amber, or Amy's kids. She had heard Nicky, but didn't know if anything was physically wrong with her.

Denise's parents room was the closest too her, so she went there first and began knocking on the door very hard.

"Mom! Dad!" Denise yelled as she knocked, but received no reply. She decided to move on after about a minute. She walked past her niece and nephew's room and past Amy and Daniel's room to Amber and Nicky's room. Again, Denise knocked on the door very hard, but unlike her mom and dad's room, she heard movement from inside the room. Amber opened the door a few minutes later, with tears on her face. Denise could see Nicky curled up on the bed crying.

"Are you two alright," Denise asked.

Amber gave a hesitant nod and then asked, "What happened. Nicky is really upset but she won't tell me what happened."

Denise put her hands on Amber's shoulders and pulled her close before softly saying, "Alli is dead. Keep Nicky in here and stay with her while I get this sorted out."

"How…" Amber started but was cut off by Denise gently pushing her towards Nicky as Denise closed the door to their room.

Denise saw Julie in the hallway.

"Julie, will you help me?" Denise asked.

"Oh course," Julie said. "Is Alli alright."

"No, but there's nothing we can do for her right now. I need you to go downstairs and get the extra keys to all the rooms and bring them back up here," Denise said with authority. "Can you do that?"

Julie nodded and hurried off. Watching Julie leave was the first time Denise saw the stranger on the stairs. The woman was looking down the hallway. Julie stopped and talked to her for a moment and then gestured for her to go with her down the stairs, which they both did.

Denise tried Amy's room, but had no luck. She moved onto Lissa and Joey's room and found the door not fully closed. Denise pushed open the door and turned on the light. There was no immediate sign of the two children, but the bed caught her eye. She quickly went to it and her heart nearly jumped out of her throat. The bed was stained with blood.

The blood certainly looked to be more then what either of the children would have had for a bloody nose, but it also seemed to be less than a fetal amount. But that was the only hopeful thought Denise could muster from the scene. Denise quickly searched the room for the children, but found no other sign of them.

Denise tried the adjoining door to Amy and Daniel's room and found it to be unlocked. She did not find either Amy or Daniel in the room, or any sign of the kids. Denise returned to Lissa and Joey's room and then she spotted someplace she had not looked.

In the bathroom, the shower curtain was closed, and for some reason that seemed out-of-place to Denise. She quickly went to it and grabbed the opaque curtain, but then hesitated. After what she had seen in Alli's room, Denise tried to prepare herself for what she might find. Having steadied herself as much as she could, she quickly flung the curtain open to find the bathtub empty.

Denise paused for a moment, trying to recover from the flip her stomach had just made.

* * *

"Wait," Tom said as they walked on the trail towards the inn. "Do you guys hear that?"

"What?" Bobby asked as he saw Tom walk off the trail into the surrounding forest. Vic quickly followed after Tom, so Bobby did as well. It wasn't too far off the trail that they found both the source of the noise and the source of the awful smell that Bobby was noticing.

Kyle's lifeless body hung from a tree. His hands were nailed to the tree above his head, and his feet were also nailed to the tree. Kyle's abdomen had been sliced open and his innards were dangling from his body accumulating in a large pile on the ground. The three men stared in disbelief at Kyle's body for a few seconds before they noticed Daniel.

Daniel was handcuffed and the handcuffs had a chain attached by a padlock. The chain was wrapped around a tree near where Kyle's body hung. Daniel was being gagged by duct tape that was wrapped around his head, and he yelling into the duct tape gag trying to get their attention.

Bobby rushed over to Daniel and began unwrapping the duct tape from his head. Daniel seemed to protest at this as the duct tape pulled hair and skin off of him. Bobby looked over and saw Tom approaching Kyle's body while Vic was still just trying to take it all in. Bobby watched Tom check for a pulse on Kyle, and then Tom's fingers moved to the string that was tied around Kyle's neck. On the string was a small key.

"Bobby, get me out of here," Daniel said as Bobby finished removing the duct tape from Daniel's head.

"Tom, get that key off of him and toss it over here," Bobby said gesturing to the handcuffs on Daniel. It took a few seconds for Tom to break the string, but he did, tossing the key over to Bobby. Bobby caught the key and then released the cuffs form Daniel's hands.

"Are you alright to stand?" Bobby asked to which Daniel nodded. Bobby helped Daniel to his feet. Neither Bobby nor Daniel noticed Vic charging over to them. Vic grabbed Daniel near his neck and forced Daniel's back against the tree he had been chained to.

"What the hell happened here?" Vic asked.

"I don't know," Daniel said emphatically. Bobby noted how bad Daniel looked. Daniel's face was swollen and discolored from the fight with Vic, and there was a good sized lump on the side of his head. "Kyle and I were walking back to the inn and we were attacked. The next thing I remember was waking up here with Kyle like that," Daniel said gesturing over to Kyle's body.

Bobby grabbed Vic's and pulled him away from Daniel. "Come on, Vic. We have to get back to the inn and make sure everyone else is alright."

"OK, but Daniel leads the way. I don't want that behind us," Vic said.

"Why would I have done this," Daniel said, with a slightly harsh tone.

"I don't know, maybe because you're a complete dick," Vic said with clear hatred in his voice.

"Guys, should we, you know?" Tom interrupted. When Vic and Bobby turned to him, Tom was gesturing at Kyle's body.

"No, we'll have to leave him for now," Bobby said. "We'll come back for him and Bruce later."

Daniel pushed past Vic and Bobby. Vic gave Tom a look that told him to follow Daniel. Vic and Bobby made up the rear. They headed off to the inn at a faster pace than they were on previously. The men didn't really speak. There wasn't much to say. It was obvious now that someone was murdering people on the island and that they were all in imminent danger.

* * *

Denise and Julie were going to check all of the rooms, but were interrupted by a hysterical Amy. Denise had to try and keep Amy from having a complete breakdown at the news that her children were missing and the state of their room.

Julie asked Mary's help in checking all of the rest of the rooms. Luckily, aside from all of the missing people, there were no other signs of trouble in any of the rooms after Alli's and the children's rooms.

Julie suggested to Mary that they search Alli's room, but Mary wanted no part of it. Julie enlisted Allen's help to search the room, but they found no evidence of who had murdered Alli. The two of them spent some time caring for Alli's body. They removed the ropes binding her arms and legs, placed her fully on the bed, and they covered her with a sheet. Allen said a few prayers over the body. Julie spent most of this time crying.

Allen and Julie had then checked on Chrissy and Emily. Emily had calmed down significantly, but both of them were still crying.

Julie needed a shower after dealing with Alli's room and body. Tom came into their room while she was getting dressed. She had luckily not been downstairs when the guys had arrived back at the inn, because she did not have to witness Denise being told that her husband was dead. Julie had been so worried about Tom that she held him in a tight embrace for several moments.

Tom told her about Bruce and Kyle. He had not wanted to give much detail, but Julie had insisted. She was horrified by what she heard, but after seeing what had been done to Alli, she was not surprised.

"I'm so sorry I brought you here," Julie had said as she gave Tom another long hug.

"I kinda am too," Tom had said with a bit of a chuckle. And then, with a reassuring tone, "We'll get off this island, I promise."

* * *

Julie waited while Tom took a shower. Mary had come to her room and told her that they were trying to get everyone together to decide what to do next. Julie told her they would be down as soon as Tom was dressed.

When Tom was ready, they left their room, but did not head immediately downstairs. Instead, Tom wanted to see the children's room. Julie had not been inside that room, but had been told what had been found. Tom suggested that maybe they might see something that Denise had missed.

Everyone else was downstairs, so no one noticed them going into Lissa and Joey's room. The two of them didn't find anything in the children's room that provided any information about where the kids were or who the murderer was. Aside from the bed, there was no sign that anything bad had happened in this room. But the bed was a fairly ominous sign.

After what had been done to Alli, and after what Tom had told her had been done to Bruce and Kyle, Julie assumed the children were dead. It wasn't like they were the only people missing, and it was a fairly safe assumption at this point that anyone missing had been murdered. She just hoped, as she did for all of the missing, that their deaths had not been as horrible as Alli's.

"I don't think their dead," Tom had said after he had studied the bed for a bit.

"Why do you think that?" Julie had asked as hopeful sounding as she could muster.

"Well, the bloods not distributed like I would expect if they were attacked here," Tom explained with authority. "It's all on the bed. Also, it's to evenly spread out. If they had been attacked here, and killed, I would expect large pools of blood. This looks like someone drizzled blood over the bed."

"I really hope your right, and that they are still alive. But if they are, where do you think they went?" Julie had asked.

Tom had refused to speculate, and the two of them left the room and headed downstairs. To Julie's and everyone's surprise, Tom found a likely answer to Julie's question when they arrived downstairs. Tom had been the one to notice the markings on the map of the island that was in the inn's lobby. Tom had also found the letter that was sitting on the table near the map.

* * *

Julie looked around at everyone in the lounge.

Chrissy was sitting with Denise, Amber, and Nicky on the couch. Bobby was standing behind her. All of the Evans sisters looked like they had been crying for a while. Not only had the news of Kyle's death and the disappearance of Lissa and Joey, but also that Hurbert and Pamela had not returned to the inn from the hiking trip the previous day.

Denise looked very pale and distant. Tears seemed to fall from her eyes without her noticing. Chrissy was sitting next to her trying to comfort her, but was clearly having trouble holding everything together herself. Bobby was rubbing Chrissy's shoulders, and would occasionally lean over and whisper something into Chrissy's ear. Bobby looked a mess, being he was still in his clothes from the previous night.

Amber and Nicky sat on the other side of Denise. Both Amber and Nicky calmed down considerably when they heard there was a note, but it was still clear they were terribly upset. Amber was still in her nightclothes, as were Denise and Chrissy. Nicky was still dressed for that run she didn't go on.

Lewis sat in the next chair over from the couch. Even though to Julie he looked nervous, he seemed slightly out of place with his dry eyes in the room where so many people were in tears. Even Allen, who was standing between the couch where the Evans sisters were sitting and the chair that Lewis sat in, seemed to have been crying. Julie figured that was due to Cort being among the missing, or just being around all of the sadness. Both Allen and Lewis were dressed.

Emily and Mary were sitting on a love seat opposite of where the Evans sisters were sitting. Mary seemed gloomy and anxious. Emily's eyes were still wet, but she was not openly sobbing anymore. Mary had gotten dressed, but Emily was still in her night clothes.

Vic stood near Emily still in the previous night's clothes. Julie had never seen Vic cry before, but Vic's red eyes and the stains on his face suggest to her that he had been. Now, though, he was looking at each of the people in the room not with sympathy but with rage. When Julie's eyes met his, even she received a look of hatred.

Dorothy was standing off in a corner. Julie had met her briefly at the height of the morning's confusion. Dorothy looked completely on edge and uncomfortable in this room of strangers.

Then there was Daniel and Amy. They were standing a slight bit away from Bobby. Amy was frantic and in tears, while Daniel was brooding. Julie thought Daniel may just not be capable of crying. He was, though, holding his wife tightly, which may have been the only reason she was still on her feet. Julie wasn't sure who had dressed the wound on Amy's head, but there was a bandage wrapped around her head. Daniel's wounds had not been washed, and his face was in awful shape.

Tom silently read the note that had been left, and then handed it to Daniel and Amy. Upon reading the note, Amy and Daniel both rushed to the map of the island that was on the wall. They then rushed outside, followed quickly by Bobby and Tom, saying they needed to see if the bus or any of the other vehicles that the inn had were usable.

When they left to check on the vehicles, Tom handed Julie the note. The note had given Julie a lot of hope that the children were still alive, in fact it had stated as much. The note had read:

_Dear Guests,_

_As you have likely already noticed, I have been very busy._

_Melissa and Joseph are both alive, but they are not well. The locations on the map will lead you to them, but you had better hurry. They will each suffer nasty fates if you do not rescue them by noon._

_Sincerely…_

Julie took a look at the map and noted that there were three Xs, marked in blood, and they were each at different ends of the island.

When Amy, Daniel, Bobby, and Tom returned a short time later, Amy and Daniel looked even more frantic. Bobby announced to everyone that the bus, along with a truck and a jeep, had all been sabotaged. Bobby figured that even with a full auto garage of tools available, and all of the parts, that it would take a day or more to get one of them up and running.

Amy immediately started separating the group in the room into three groups to go searching for her children when Vic had stopped her.

"Just hold on a second," Vic had said. "It's very clear this is a trap, and we don't even know if your kids are still alive. Before we go out there, I have a few questions for you. Specifically, why were you out in woods in the middle of the night?"

"We don't have time…" Amy had started to say.

Vic interrupted, "Yes we do. If you want my help, you had better start answering."

"I was being blackmailed," Amy admitted. "Someone has been demanding that I give them money for a couple of months, and I was supposed to give them the money last night."

"What do you mean you were being blackmailed? How were you being blackmailed?" Daniel asked. They were standing next to each other with Daniel holding Amy's hand. It was clear to Julie that after Amy made her admission that Daniel was squeezing much tighter.

"They had pictures of me and a friend that they said they would release them if I didn't pay the money," Amy said, clearly uncomfortable with having to make this confession.

"You fucking whore," Daniel said in a matter of fact way. He let go of Amy's hand. "How much of my money were you going to spend on keeping your cheating a secret?"

"That doesn't matter right now," Vic said. Vic was giving Daniel a very dark look; it was a look that begged Daniel to find out what would happen if he said one more thing. "Did the blackmailer show up?"

"No… yes… I don't know," Amy had said with her head down. She was now crying with renewed intensity. Denise got off of the couch and guided Amy back to sit next to her. "I just remember standing out there waiting for the blackmailer to show up and the next thing I remember was Dorothy waking me up."

"So you left our kids alone to have God knows what happen to them, so you could cover up your affair," Daniel screamed from across the room.

At this, Vic looked ready to tear into Daniel. Bobby had hopped out of his seat and held him back.

"What I want to know is how whoever is doing this has been able to get away with it without anyone suspecting what was going on," Denise said once the room was quite again.

At this point, Emily spoke up. She let everyone know what she knew about her earlier suspicions. Julie could tell that Emily was deeply ashamed for not telling everyone sooner. Julie could also see that Denise seemed to grow angrier as Emily laid all of her information out for the group.

"So we could have known this was happening earlier if you hadn't kept this all to yourself, or I guess amongst your friends," Denise said to Emily with a very cold tone. Chrissy was rubbing Denise's shoulder in a calming way, but even Chrissy gave Emily an angry look. Emily did not answer Denise's comment. There was a silence that swept the room for a few moments, which Amy took advantage of.

"We really need to go, please. Will you all help us look for my children?" Amy pleaded.

"I think Vic was right," Mary said. "Whoever is doing this is just trying to split us up. We would be foolish to do that at this point. I'm going to the docks to see if the boat is still there, and I'm getting off this island."

"I'm going with you," Dorothy said, though no one really paid attention.

"But we cannot just ignore this," Amy pleaded in reply. "If there is any chance my children are still alive we have to go."

"Why would they still be alive," Mary retorted. "You think whoever did that to Alli is going to keep your children alive out of the goodness of their heart." At this, Amy burst into a fresh set of sobs.

"If you think whoever is doing this just left you a boat to escape with, then your dumber then you look," Amber said as she glared at Mary.

"I know our chances are better at the boat then falling into an obvious trap," Mary replied.

"I'll help you look," Allen said reassuringly.

"Me too," Lewis piped in.

"Lewis, I think it might be better if you go to the boat, or stay here," Allen said authoritatively.

"No way. What makes you think I'll be safer at either of those places then with you?" Lewis replied. "I'm going."

"Then lets figure out who is going where," Denise said, her organizational nature clearly taking hold.

"Wait a minute," Chrissy said. "You're not going searching. In the condition you're in, you would just slow us down."

"Chrissy is right," Amy said. "You, Amber, and Nicky should go to the boat."

"I'm going out searching," Amber said quickly.

"Me too," Nicky added.

"Amber, Nicky, I…" Amy started before being cut off by her too youngest sisters. The Evans sisters quickly became engrossed in their debate about who would search and who would go to the docks. Mary used the opportunity to press the others.

"So, who else is going to the docks? Emily? Julie? Vic?" Mary said as she looked to each of them.

"I'm staying and searching for those kids," Emily said.

"What? Why?" Mary said, genuinely shocked by Emily's response. "You don't have to do that just because you feel guilty. None of this is your fault."

"I would do this whether I felt some responsibility for this happening or not, Mary," Emily replied assuredly. "We are those kids' only chance, and I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do something."

"Fine, whatever. Julie?" Mary said looking at her.

"What do you want to do?" Tom asked. His arm was around her waist, which she found so comforting even considering the situation.

"Stay," was Julie's only reply.

"Then we're staying," Tom said matter-of-factly.

"Vic?" Mary asked with a new urgency in her voice.

Vic looked at Emily, then to Mary, and then back to Emily. "I'm staying," Vic said.

"Vic, you don't even think those kids are still alive," Mary said.

"I'm staying Mary, and that's that," Vic said to Mary, but his eyes never left Emily.

* * *

Mary and Dorothy had agreed to wait on Denise while she got changed before heading out to the boat. They were the only two still in the lounge. They sat next to each other in silence.

Amber and Nicky had won their fight to go searching for their niece and nephew. The next big trick was figuring out what people would be in what group.

Emily, Julie, Tom, and Vic had decided to form one group. Emily had quickly gone upstairs to change clothes. Julie and Tom loitered in the lobby while Vic did one more search for weapons of any sort. They had already done this more than once this morning, and found the kitchen cleaned out of knifes or anything else that could be used as a weapon. Whoever was doing this had been thorough. They had taken any obvious weapons and disabled the vehicles. They had even destroyed the radio in Janice's office. Vic returned to the group in the lobby empty handed.

Daniel had refused to search with Amy, so his group was difficult to decide. Allen said that Lewis and he could go with Daniel. Nicky decided she would also go with this group, which caused Amy to protest.

"Amy, I'll be fine. Anyways, I got the most men in my group, so I should be safer," Nicky said to her sister. "You have to wait for Chrissy and Amber to change, but everyone in my groups already ready to go."

Amy could only fight an issue like this for so long at this point, so she quickly gave in.

"We'll find them," Nicky had said as she gave Amy a hug goodbye. "They're going to be alright."

"You stay safe," Amy whispered to Nicky.

"Come on if you're coming, Nicky," Daniel said. Nicky broke the hug with her sister and ran out the front door of the inn to meet up with Daniel, Allen, and Lewis. The location they were going to check had them taking the left hand trail away from the inn. They went at a quick pace.

* * *

Ray was completely unaware of the time, or how long he had been making his way down the hill. He was wearing a watch, but he hadn't bothered to check it since he had woken up. He was too out of it to care what time it was. He knew he had to be getting close to the inn, at least if he didn't make it there soon he figured he would pass out again.

Ray came around a clearing and smelled a terrible scent. It was overpowering, and caused him to recoil and stop his forward progress.

He thought about just moving on, but he had a suspicion of what the smell was. It was an awful suspicion to have, but he thought if anything smelled of death it was this. He walked a short ways into the clearing and found his suspicion to be correct.

Ray's heart sank lower than it had ever been. He had never been one to burst out into tears, or to be overcome with emotions of any kind, but seeing Sara's horribly disfigured body caused tears to fall quickly down his faces. He buried his face in his hands and yelled for several seconds.

Ray should have walked on. There was nothing more he could do for Sara here, and this wasn't the way he should remember her. He felt compelled, though, to stay with her. He felt he had to hold her one last time.

Ray fell to his knees beside her. He could care less about the fact that her body was in such bad condition. He carefully placed a hand underneath her body and brought it close to him.

Ray hadn't noticed the fishing line that ran from Sara's body to a nearby tree. He didn't notice the sound of the pin being pulled from the grenade that was sticking precariously from Sara's pants pocket as he pulled the remains of Sara close to him.

It took seven seconds for the trap to come to fruition.

In that seven seconds Ray knew of nothing but sorrow. His dreams of a happy life with the woman that he loved had been destroyed. No one ever understood what he saw in Sara, but Ray saw something amazing and beautiful in Sara that no one else in the world could see. That was something that made their lover so special. And now it was gone. He rocked her body back and forth as he wept.

Ray didn't think about how everything might have gone differently if he hadn't gone down the wrong trail or if he had decided not to go to the top of the hill. Luckily, Ray didn't really have time for regret.

* * *

**Deaths:**

** Allison Little (Alli) - The Athlete**

** Bruce Kemp - The Partier**

**Raymond Cunningham (Ray) - The Go-Getter**

**AN: The last chapter I ended by saying I would have the next chapter by the end of that week… That didn't happen, so I am not going to promise anything more than the next chapter will be soon.**

**Next Chapter is Chapter 10: Click.**


	12. Chapter 10: Click

**AN: I'm sure everyone who is reading this is shocked… A new chapter that didn't take 6 or so months for me to post. I've got a window of time right now so I am hoping to get done with this story over the course of the next month ( or month and a half).**

**Thanks for the reviews, and to JWEarl: I have a response to your question at the end of this chapter.**

**Enough chit-chat for now. On to the story.**

* * *

Character's Not Listed as Dead:

**The Bride and Groom**

Christina Evans (Chrissy) - The Bride

Robert Philips (Bobby) - The Groom

**The Friends of the Bride and Groom**

Emily Stone - The Maid-of-Honor

Victor Ford (Vic) - The Best Man

Mary Medina - The Sullen

Julie Graves - The Outcast

Tom Lane - The Stranger

**The Bride's Family**

Amy Marshall - The Tyrant

Denise Arnold - The Peacekeeper

Amber Evans - The Tease

Nicole Evans (Nicky) - The Risk Taker

Daniel Marshall - The Mogul

Melissa Marshall (Lissa) - The Flower girl

Joseph Marshall (Joey) - The Ring bearer

**The Groom's Family**

Allen Philips - The Reverend

Lewis Philips - The Loner

**Others**

Dorothy Rose - The Stripper

* * *

**Chapter 10: Click**

* * *

"What was that," Nicky said looking back towards the inn. They had only made it a short ways up the trail when they heard the echoes of the explosion.

"Whatever it was its behind us, not in front of us," Daniel said impatiently. "We have to keep moving."

"But it could have been an explosion from the inn," Nicky said with deep concern.

"Nicky, if you're just going to slow us up you can go back to the inn," Daniel said sternly.

"Don't worry about that Nicky," Allen said as he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Whatever that was came from beyond the inn. Far enough away that it wouldn't have affected any of the others who are at the inn. Just remember to watch where you're going. Whoever the killer is may have set traps." Allen directed the last part to both Nicky and Lewis. Both of the teens gave Allen a firm nod.

The group continued on. The path they were on was fairly level and well enough kept that they were able to travel quickly. That was until they discovered Cort's body.

The smoldering remains of Cort's body still lay in the middle of the trail where he had finally succumbed to the fire. His body continued to burn long after his death, and if it were not for his running shoes, which were in surprisingly good shape considering, they would not have been able to identify him. Cort was basically ashes.

Allen stopped the group for almost five minutes as he said a prayer over Cort's remains. Daniel paced impatiently the entire time. To Lewis, Cort was somebody he had just met, so it was hard for him to be more concerned for the loss of Cort over the situation they were in. And to Nicky, who had seen Alli's horribly mutilated body, Cort's remains seemed relatively tame.

Allen rose from his position over Cort's remains. He looked somber, but he was not crying.

"We should keep going," Allen said matter-of-factly. "We will already be cutting it close to get to the marked location by noon."

Lewis walked over to his father to give him an embrace, but Allen stopped him by grabbing his arm firmly. Allen gave Lewis a reassuring nod and he turned to follow Daniel who had already started walking quickly up the trail.

Nicky walked over to Lewis and put her hand gently on his back, giving it a short rub.

"We have to keep going," she said. Lewis nodded and the two of them followed side-by-side a short distance behind Daniel and Allen.

* * *

Emily was the first of those who needed to change clothes to make it back downstairs. She saw Amy was standing nervously to the side and Julie, Vic, and Tom, who were anxiously waiting for her.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, Emily made a quick bee line into the lounge where Mary and Dorothy were still waiting for Denise to get dressed.

"Be careful out there, Mary," Emily said.

"You too! Are you sure you won't reconsider going to the docks with us?" Mary asked.

"No," Emily said as she walked away, not giving Mary a chance to argue her position again.

"Ready?" Vic asked impatiently. "Anyone else you need to say goodbye to before we leave?"

Emily turned to Amy, "They'll be alright, don't worry. Just stay safe out there, OK?"

Amy gave a very weak nod. Emily turned and walked out the front door of the inn followed by the members of her group. They went around the inn to the trail that led to the bar and the abandoned town. The location that had been marked on the map that they were going to was a significant ways beyond the town. They were only a short distance past the backside of the inn when they heard the grenade explode. No one in the group suspected that the explosion had meant the end of Ray.

"Should we go back?" Emily asked after they had decided it was not an immediate threat.

"No, we should get our chore over with as soon as possible," Vic said as he continued on the trail.

"Yeah, but the others may be in danger," Emily said as she followed Vic.

"In case you hadn't notice, we're all in danger right now," Vic said without turning around to face her.

"I know that Vic, but maybe we should warn them that there could be traps," Emily said.

"I think they probably heard the same thing we did, and I guess I figure they know there are traps," Vic said. His tone didn't change. Normally he would have drawn out the condescension in his statement, but the delivery was flat. "Hell, this whole thing is one big trap."

"This may be a trap of some sort, but even if it is it may still be possible to rescue Lissa and Joey," Tom said with a bit of authority in his voice.

Vic gave a slight shrug to Tom's statement as he kept walking.

"If you didn't really think that we'll be able to rescue the kids, or you just don't care about them, why are you coming along?" Tom asked arrogantly. Tom had only known Vic for a few days, so he really was confused by why Vic was going with them if he didn't care one way or another. Emily knew, though, why Vic had come along.

"Guess I'm hoping whoever is killing my friends will decide to show themselves when we get to the end of this little journey," Vic said as he looked back at Tom with a hint of accusation in his eyes.

They continued on walking. Their pace was not as fast as Daniel's group, due to the more uneven trail and different level of motivation. But they did not find many reasons to stop along the trail either.

* * *

Chrissy, Bobby, Denise, and Amber came down the stairs together not long after Emily and her group had left. Mary and Dorothy came into lobby while Amy, Chrissy, and Amber were saying their goodbyes to Denise. It was in the middle of this that they heard the echoing explosion of the grenade going off. It wasn't very loud, but it was clearly an explosion.

This of course led to a few minutes of everyone expressing how careful they should all be. To Amy, being careful at this point was the last thing on her mind. In all of the discussion and waiting that had occurred this morning, it took all of her reason to remind her not to just go rushing to one of the indicated positions on the map. Her emotions ran from debilitating sadness and dread from the disappearance of her children to shock and anger over the fact that the other guests were concerned with anything other than her children. That left very little room for concern about anything else.

It had barely registered with her that her parents were missing or that there was any danger to anyone else aside from her children. Even the confession of the blackmail and her affair and the humiliation and shame that came with it had practically gone from her mind.

The rational parts of Amy's brain reminded her, though, that she had to take others with her if she wanted what was best for Lissa and Joey. If she got lost out there, or injured, then how was she helping them? No, an organized plan, and waiting for others to pull their heads out of their asses, was best. It was the only way. And that was the only thing that kept Amy from going out on her own.

They were on the trail and moving quickly. Amy could barely remember saying goodbye to Denise, if she even had. Her sisters, her parents, her husband, all of that was secondary right now.

Normally, Amy would never have let Nicky go off with another group had the situation been different. But in a sick way, she was happy Nicky had offered to go with that group. It meant Amy had someone in that group she could trust. As for the group of Chrissy's friends, Amy had hoped Chrissy and Bobby, or even Amber, would have gone with that group to keep an eye on them. But that hadn't happened. At least Nicky was an ally within another group.

As they walked, Amy occasionally heard Chrissy, Bobby, or Amber talking. Mostly they seemed to talk to each other, but sometimes they addressed her. She replied as they would expect, but she was not really that aware of anything they were saying. A few times they asked to stop, which Amy always denied them. Besides that, it was mostly the others saying they were sure that Lissa and Joey were fine or that they were making good time. Amy had a watch, and knew that every second was leading to her children's eminent death, so making good time to her was arriving well before the noon deadline. Early enough couldn't be too early for Amy.

Amy hadn't put much thought into what condition Lissa and Joey would be in when and if they found them. She hadn't even really thought about them being in any of the other locations. To her, they were waiting patiently at the end of this trail. And if they arrived a moment too late, they would be dead. The thought hadn't really crossed Amy's mind that her children might already be dead and that this might all be a trap.

Amy had heard others talking about how Kyle, Alli, and Bruce had died, but her mind wouldn't connect that kind of suffering to her own children. Who would be so cruel as to want to bring any suffering to her sweet, innocent children? That concept was unfathomable to Amy.

"Amy, stop!" Chrissy said to her. Amy hadn't noticed, but Chrissy had gotten in front of her and was now physically stopping her. Chrissy had her hands placed firmly on both of Amy's shoulders before Amy had really noticed her.

Amy saw that Chrissy was sweating profusely. Amy looked behind her to see Bobby with his hands on top of his head. He was also sweating a great deal and breathing very hard. Amber was basically in the same shape, but she had her hands on her knees as she tried to recover.

"I know you don't want to stop," Chrissy said between gasps. "But we've been walking, hell we've been running at times, for well over an hour. We have to have a break or we'll pass out."

For the first time, Amy noticed how much she was sweating and how hard she was breathing. Her legs burned, but that kind of pain was easy to block out right now.

Amy let the others rest for a few minutes before insisting they start again. Amy knew they had just lost at least five minutes, and she swore to make up that time when they got moving again.

* * *

Denise, Mary, and Dorothy stared at the boat. They were several feet from the dock, but they were all a bit hesitant to go further. Even though Troy was not confirmed to be deceased, none of the three of them expected to find him on the boat ready to take them back to shore. Emily had told them that she had checked the boat the day before and had not found him there. In fact, no one had seen Troy since Dorothy had left him the previous day.

"Maybe you should wait here, since your pregnant and all," Dorothy said to Denise. Denise did not reply immediately, so Dorothy gently put her hand on Denise's shoulder. Denise seemed to come out of her daze and she gave Dorothy a short nod. Dorothy didn't figure Denise would be much use if there was trouble on the boat, both because of the pregnancy and Denise seemed to still be dazed by the loss of her husband.

"Should we go check it out?" Dorothy said to Mary hesitantly.

"Guess if we want to get off this island we'll have to," Mary replied, but she let Dorothy take the lead.

The two women walked onto the dock, taking their time to look over the boat before really approaching it and boarding.

"Did you hear that?" Dorothy asked.

Both women paused, but Mary shook her head to indicate she hadn't heard anything.

"It doesn't really look any different than when I left if yesterday," Dorothy said in a whisper. Nothing really did seem out-of-place, but Dorothy felt more scared then she ever had before in her life.

"Where do you think Troy would be?" Mary asked.

"I think his cabin is down those stairs."

They cautiously went down the stairs and checked the door and discovered it was locked. They decided they would need tools to get in so they went to look for them together. They found a toolkit, and in particular a crowbar in the engine room. That was also when they discovered that the engine had been sabotaged.

The engine was in horrible shape. Tubes and wires were cut and various fluids were on the floor.

"I think it's going to take more than a casual knowledge of how engines work to fix this," Mary said in a disgusted tone. "This boat is fucked."

"Let's figure out what happened to Troy then try and find a radio," Dorothy said wanting to remain constructive.

On their way back to Troy's room they checked on Denise, who was waiting nervously. They then went to Troy's room to break-in. It took a few minutes using the crowbar to get in, and the only reward waiting behind the door was Troy's bullet riddled body.

* * *

"There's nothing we can do for them," Amy said to Chrissy, Bobby, and Amber. "We should keep moving."

Chrissy and Bobby were hovering over Ray's body, which was mainly in one piece but was a bloody mess. Ray's body lay a short distance away from Sara's horribly disfigured corpse. Charred pieces of Ray and Sara lay all around.

Amber crouched facing away from the bodies crying into her hands. She had only caught a glimpse of Sara's body, but that had been enough to launch a fresh wave of fear for what had become of her parents, her niece and nephew, and for what might still happen to her and her sisters.

"Please, we have…," Amy started but was interrupted.

"These were some of our best friends, Amy," Chrissy said angrily. "We can take a moment, we'll still make it."

Amber heard Amy make an anxious groan, which Chrissy and Bobby seemed to ignore. Chrissy and Bobby were having a conversation in whispers that seemed to be about what they should do with Ray's and Sara's bodies.

They didn't have any real supplies with them. They didn't have a sheet or blanket, so there was no way for them to cover the bodies. Chrissy and Bobby discussed moving Ray's remains off of the road, but decided they shouldn't move anything from the scene.

Amber agreed with Amy. She wanted to move on. She didn't like being around the dead bodies at all. Amber stood up and walked over to the still pacing Amy. She knew Amy was becoming more frantic, but she hoped her sister was still of enough sound mind to give her some support for a moment.

Without a word, Amy did put her arms around Amber and gave her a hug, but it felt very robotic.

"Shh… Don't worry, Amber, this is all going to be alright," Amy said, but she sounded as though she was trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince Amber.

Amber didn't know what to say to Amy in response, so she simply held onto her sister and wept quietly on her shoulder until Chrissy announced they were ready to go. Amy pulled back from Amber, but she gave Amber a kiss on the forehead and a reassuring rub on the arms before turning and hastily continuing up the trail. Chrissy, Bobby, and Amber followed, but continued to struggle to keep up.

* * *

"Thanks, Vic," Emily said quietly to Vic. Julie and Tom were walking a slight distance ahead of them, so Emily and Vic could have a conversation without being heard. As they had walked, Emily's hand had found its way into Vic's, which Vic didn't refuse.

"You don't have to thank me Em," Vic said in reply.

"Yes I do. I know you would rather be looking for whoever hurt Bruce, or looking for a way to go back to the mainland and get the police. Thanks for coming with me instead."

"I'm not so caught up in myself that you'd ever think that I wouldn't protect you, am I?" Vic said. For the first time this morning, Emily thought she heard Vic sounding a bit like himself. Emily gave Vic's hand a little squeeze but did not reply.

In truth, over the years Vic and her had been together, Vic had given her plenty of reasons to believe that he was too caught up in his own shit to care about her. Emily did love Vic with all of her heart, but she was not at all convinced that Vic felt exactly the same.

There most recent breakup had been precipitated by weeks of bickering about useless things. They had been living together and that had led to the typical sorts of fights. But Vic just didn't seem to be able to adjust to being with her all of the time.

The last straw with their relationship had come when Vic had missed a brunch with her and her parents. The brunch had been planned for weeks. Vic had missed it because he had gone out with Bruce, Bobby, and Ray the night before for what was supposed to be just one drink, but he had stayed out all night. On top of that, he refused to tell her what they had been up to that kept him out all of that night.

Emily had moved out that same week, and this had been the longest they had been apart of any of their breakups. Emily still had feeling for him, but Vic missing that brunch had been symbolic of every time he had let her down. Vic seemed to find a way to sabotage their relationship every time it got too intense.

Even though Vic had let her down so many times, and Emily did not believe Vic was capable of loving her the way she loved him, she had no doubt that he did care deeply for her. Vic cared enough about her to want to protect her on this island. She knew that Vic had come searching for the children so he could protect her.

"We need to pick of the pace a bit," Julie shouted back to them, interrupting Emily's thought. "It's getting close to noon, and we still have a ways to go."

The groups pace increased, but Emily and Vic remained a distance back from Julie and Tom.

"What do you think about Tom?" Vic said, changing the evaporated topic.

"I think that you cannot go around thinking everyone is the killer," Emily said carefully. "You have no more reason to think it was Tom as anyone else. You only suspect him because you don't know him."

"Neither do you," Vic snapped. "Sorry, but not knowing people is reason enough to suspect them right now."

"I think it was likely someone who was already on this island, and that none of us who were going to the wedding are involved," Emily said calmly. "If I'm right, then accusing others in our group and not trusting one another just plays into the real killer's hands."

Vic gave Emily a look that said he was unconvinced. "When we get to whatever is at the end of this trail, just promise me you'll stay close to me."

"I will," Emily replied.

* * *

Allen was happy that Lewis and Nicky were walking a short distance behind Daniel and himself. Seeing Cort's body in the condition it was in made Allen angry at himself for not pressing harder that Lewis go to the boat.

Allen was surprised that seeing Cort's body had not had a greater effect on him. If he had been told before they had come here that he would see the charred body of his only living sibling on this trip, he likely would have broken down in tears. Seeing Allison's body had prepared him for the worst, along with the adrenalin and knowing he had to be strong for Lewis, so he had been able to keep it together for the most part.

He tried to keep thoughts of his brother out of his mind as they walked. He knew it would do him no good. But nagging thoughts crept in during the silent walk. Thoughts such as wondering why Cort had decided, out of character, to come on this trip; why hadn't he spent more time with Cort with this rare opportunity; why had Cort always disappeared in the evenings? He wondered if there would ever be real answers to those questions, or if he would ever outlive the regrets.

Allen heard some stumbling behind him. He looked back and saw Nicky helping Lewis back to his feet.

"I'm OK dad," Lewis said as he wiped some of the dirt off his knees. It looked like Lewis had done a decent job of scrapping his right knee in the fall. Both Lewis and Nicky were drenched with sweat, as were Daniel and himself.

"Maybe we should stop for a moment," Allen said.

"I said I was OK," Lewis snapped back. Allen could see the embarrassment on Lewis' face over falling. Allen gave them a nod and turned around to continue on the trail. Daniel had barely stopped, so Allen had to walk faster to catch up. Allen gave a look back to Lewis and Nicky, catching a glance of Nicky putting a hand on Lewis' shoulder before they began walking again.

In the middle of everything, Allen was able to smile a bit to himself over Lewis and Nicky becoming friends. Thinking of how rare it was that Lewis took a chance on friendship made him think about how Bobby had come out of his shell when he went off to college.

Bobby had been an awkward teenager too. Bobby had been shy and unsure, with few friends throughout high school. Bobby had managed to meet good people, though, in college, and he had become a confident man. Allen was so proud of his older son and the man he had become.

Allen had just then thought about how little he had thought about the danger Bobby could be in on the other side of the island. Between all of the other things that had been happening, Allen was ashamed to think how little his older son's safety had come to mind. He realized that in large part, that was due to this older son being a strong, confident man.

Allen thought of the leadership Bobby had shown as the morning's events had unfolded. How strong and protective of Chrissy he had been. Allen was confident that they would be alright, they just had to be.

"I think the spot is just at the top of this hill," Daniel said as his pace increased to a near run. Allen tried to keep up, but Daniel was younger and in better shape so he fell a bit behind.

Allen could hear Lewis and Nicky running behind him, still some distance back. Allen was cognizant that if what they found at the end of this trail was not something they should see, that he would need to make sure they didn't see it.

* * *

Denise wished Mary and Dorothy would hurry up on the boat. They had given her a wave to say they were fine, but it had been a good 15 minutes since she had last seen or heard them. She was starting to get very concerned.

Denise had thought about sitting down, but with as pregnant as she was, she knew she would not be able to get up quickly. And she did not want to make herself any more vulnerable then she already was. With all of her tension and anxiety, her baby was joining in. Her baby seemed to be doing a tumbling routine inside of her, which was doing her nausea no favors.

Her nausea had seemed to get better the previous night, but with everything that had happened that day it had returned worse than ever. And she now had a slight fever.

Denise heard some soft noise coming from the boat which reassured her that Mary and Dorothy would soon let her know what was happening. This slight distraction made her not instantly aware of the warm liquid trickling down her legs. When she realized it, she was very confused because she did not feel as though she was urinating.

Then came a sharp pain in her belly, worse by far than any of the cramps she had experienced over their time on the island. She let out a short cry of pain as her legs gave out and she crumpled to the ground.

As she lay on the ground moaning, a fresh wave of pain hit all over her body that was bad enough to cause her to vomit. The world started to go dark as she heard Mary and Dorothy screaming her name, but she lost awareness before they reached her.

* * *

Amy was the first one to reach the clearing and to see the foot locker sitting on the ground 50 feet away. Chrissy, Bobby, and Amber were still a short distance behind her, so Amy took in the sight for a few seconds before the others arrive to see the same. The foot locker was wooden, and painted a dark blue. There was a latch on the front, but Amy could not tell if it was locked.

What caused Amy to scream was that the foot locker was clearly leaking blood. In fact, the ground around the foot locker was saturated with blood, so a puddle of shiny dark red fluid sat on top of the ground.

She ran to foot locker, blurry eyed from the sweat in her eyes. Her sneakers splashed in the puddle of blood causing droplets of blood to appear on her legs. She was barely aware of Chrissy and Bobby calling her name, or of Amber screaming, "Oh God no!"

Amy fell to her knees at the foot locker. It was not locked, so the latch gave easily. She threw the lid of the foot locker open. Inside the box, amongst all of the viscera and various fluids, she briefly saw two skinned, headless, handless, and footless bodies.

Amy was about to volley a fresh set of screams over what had become of her babies, when the knives sprung from the foot locker and crushed into each side of her skull. Thoughts of her children vanished immediately, replaced by confusion over what had just happened. Then she began to convulse, which allowed the knives to make quick work of her brain.

Amy's body slumped, putting full wait on the two knives that had ended her life. Amy's eyes seemed to stare intensely at their final, horrible sight.

* * *

Vic and Emily had caught up to Julie and Tom by the time they arrived at their foot locker. They stood staring, trying to adjust to the stench of rotting flesh. Emily then began having dry heaves, so Julie went to her and tried to calm her down.

"Should we go and open it?" Tom asked Vic.

"Be my guest," Vic said, looking to Tom to see his reaction. Tom looked like he was going to move forward, then thought better of it and stayed in his spot.

"It has to be a trap," Vic said. "Clearly, if those kids are in that box, their dead. So that box is probably booby trapped."

"But we still have to find out for sure," Tom said. Vic considered this. He looked over at Emily and Julie. Emily had seemed to calm down a bit, but she had begun to cry.

"Were early… it's not noon yet. How could the killer still kill them," Emily said through her sobs.

"Whatever happened in that box didn't just happen," Vic said calmly. "The amount of blood on the ground, the rotting, this didn't just happen. This has been here for a while."

"So what now," Julie said.

"You and Emily get behind that tree there," Vic said as he pointed. "Tom, get behind that tree over there." Again, Vic pointed, but to a tree on the other side of the trail. This would effectively split Tom off from Emily and Julie, but Tom did not protest.

Vic picked up a stick as the others got into position. "Vic, wait…," Emily said. Vic gave her a knowing look that convinced her he knew what he was doing. When everyone was safely behind large trees, Vic cautiously walked up to the box.

The ground around the foot locker was fairly undisturbed and debris free, so Vic wasn't too concerned as he approached the box. The long stick that he was carrying was not long enough to prevent him from having to walk in the puddle of blood around the foot locker. Vic was as willing as the next guy to walk in a thick puddle of blood, but there wasn't much choice.

The foot locker had dried trails of blood down the sides. It was clearly not locked, but the first trick was going to be undoing the latch. Vic extended the stick towards it and found he could not flip the latch up with the stick and open the foot locker at the same time. He would have to open it by hand.

He looked back to Emily and Julie and gave them a nod. He approached the foot locker so that it was just within arm's length. He flipped the latch up, and slowly opened the foot locker until he heard an audible "click." Vic let go of the lid and jumped backwards, landing in the puddle of sticky blood.

The lid slammed shut, and nothing seemed to happen for a second as Vic stared at the foot locker. Then, there was a loud thud, as the tips of two knives penetrated the lid of the box. The force of the trap had broken the latch on the foot locker, so it set slightly ajar being held up by the two blades.

Vic got to his feet and picked up the stick and pried the lid off of the blades, which caused the lid to fly open and the trap to snap together.

Tom, Emily, and Julie, sensing the danger had passed, approached Vic, who was looking into the foot locker.

"Is it them?" Julie asked hesitantly.

"Nope," Vic said. Emily and Julie only got to the edge of the blood, but Tom walked on the puddle to get a closer look.

"I think those are… goats?" Tom asked.

"Could be. Without the heads or skin, it's hard to tell," Vic replied. "But yeah, that could definitely be young goats. Either way, it's definitely not them."

"But why?" Julie asked.

"Well, there were only two kids and three locations to search, maybe we're the only ones who didn't find one of them," Emily said.

"And maybe this whole thing is just a big trap," Vic said. "Either way, I think we have learned all that were going to learn here."

"Oh yeah, what did we learn?" Tom asked.

Vic considered how much he wanted to give away before he replied, "I think those animals have been dead for a few days, and this trap is pretty sophisticated. Look at those little metal canisters in there," Vic said pointing inside the foot locker. "I think those are CO2 canisters to accelerate those knives. This must have taken time to put together.

"This has been planned too well for it just to be some random killer on the island," Vic continued. "This was meant specifically for us."

"How long do you think this has been here?" Emily asked.

"No idea… but the bodies of those animals are in a plastic bag," Vic said. "I think it just started leaking, or was punctured, recently. Maybe a day at most, or all of the blood would have soaked into the ground."

"Something else, Vic," Julie said. "That foot locker looks too long and heavy for one person to handle."

Vic lifted one side of the foot locker off the ground and clearly struggled to get it off the ground a foot. "I don't know, maybe without all of the stuff inside there I could manage it, but you could be right that it would take two people."

They all stood there considering all of this further. Then Vic seemed to realize how much animal blood he was covered in. "I need to get back to the inn and get cleaned up," Vic said walking back the entrance to the clearing. "Then we're getting off this fucking island."

The entire group began walking down the trail, as Vic considered the lie he had just told the others. On the trip here, Vic had an important recollection. Vic had told the others that they were going back to the inn, but he had no intention of going back there.

* * *

Lewis was really struggling to keep pace. Nicky and he were still behind by a significant distance from his father and Daniel, but they had also slowed their pace a bit from fatigue. Nicky was probably in the best shape of any of them, but she was also visibly tired.

Lewis could tell that Allen wanted to stay a certain distance ahead of them, probably to keep them safe but Lewis also thought it was because Allen wanted to be alone in his thoughts. Lewis obliged, because as the hike had gone on, he was more and more afraid of what they would find at the end.

Lewis knew they were close with how Daniel's pace had suddenly increased. When Lewis saw Daniel and Allen reached the top of the hill, he heard Daniel yell, "There! There!" Then both men broke into a sprint and disappeared from view.

Both Nicky and he also broke into a run. He barely heard the sound of commotion and Daniel's yell above his own labored breathing. Both Nicky and he desperately wanted to find out what was happening, though nothing could prepare Lewis for what they would see as they reached the top of the hill.

What Lewis saw when they could see Allen again was his father's disfigure face pouring blood. As he sprinted to Allen, he was barely aware of Daniel pulling bodies from the box on the ground.

"Dad! Dad!" Lewis screamed through tears as he arrived at his father's side. Allen was trying to hold his shattered jaw onto his face as blood shot like a fountain from his neck. Whatever had done this to his father, Lewis could see that the wound stretched from the base of the side of Allen's neck up the bottom of his nose.

Lewis grabbed at Allen's neck to try to stop the bleeding. Allen put his hand on top of Lewis' to help add pressure. There was barely any strength in his father's hands. Allen was trying to speak, but couldn't form words with his destroyed mouth. His mouth just pulled apart inhumanly as he tried.

"It's OK dad… It's going to be OK," Lewis said, trying to calm his dying father. "Get help!" Lewis screamed to no one in particular.

The blood continued to flow freely from the wound as Allen's eyes rolled in his head. "Stay with me dad, please!" Lewis yelled to try to keep his father awake, but his father had passed. Lewis gave up on the wound and just tried to shake his father awake as he cried hard.

"It's not them," Daniel said with relief, but Lewis barely heard him. He could also barely hear Nicky sobbing a few feet away from him.

* * *

Denise was almost able to walk under her own power as Mary, Dorothy, and she arrived back at the inn. The boat had been a bust, with the radio and the engine having been effectively destroyed, and on top of that she had become very ill. The walk back had seemed to take forever, with Dorothy and Mary helping her along the entire way.

She was starting to get her strength back, though. And the pain in her belly and the spinning in her head had dissipated. The nausea and fever remained.

As they went back into the inn they saw that it was empty. No one else had returned yet, which was not surprising since it was just past noon.

"Here, lie down on one of these couches," Dorothy said as they helped Denise to one of the couches in the lounge.

"I need to go to the bathroom," Mary announced, then quickly left the room.

"I'll see if there's anything to drink," Dorothy said. "Do you think you can keep any food down? It might help."

"Maybe some crackers or something," Denise said. It felt so good to lie down that she didn't really care about food or water at the moment. Dorothy headed off to the kitchen.

Denise closed her eyes as the room grew silent. Then she heard what she thought was muffled crying in the distance. It was barely audible even in the silence of the inn.

"Dorothy, Mary, is that you?" Denise said loudly, but there was no response. She called for Dorothy and Mary again but still received no answer.

Denise sighed but decided she needed to find out who it was. With great strain she pushed herself to her feet and fought off the dizziness. She walked towards the back of the inn, past the stairs and the front desk, to what would have been Janice's room.

Denise opened the door and heard the sobbing quite. She walked into the room. It was empty, but the closet door was closed so she decided to check inside. Cautiously, Denise pulled open the closet door, immediately seeing Lissa and Joey inside.

"Aunt Denise," Lissa said as she jumped up and into Denise's arms.

"Oh, sweetie, are you alright?" Denise asked as she gave her niece a big hug. Lissa nodded her head.

"Where's mommy?" Lissa asked. "I woke up and we were here and I searched and searched and no one else was here and so I got scared and something's wrong with Joey and so I hid here with him."

"Shh, you're OK now," Denise said. "What's wrong with Joey?"

"I don't know," Lissa said slightly calmer. "He's awake but he doesn't want to get up."

Denise set her niece aside and went into the closet. Joey was curled up on the ground. His eyes were open and he seemed to be breathing. "Are you alright Joey?" Denise asked. She received some groggy moans back, which suggested he was just barely awake. Looking into his glassy eyes, Denise thought he had definitely been drugged, and that hopefully he would snap out of it.

It took all of her effort to pick Joey up, and to stand up herself.

"Come on, Lissa," Denise said. "Let's go out to the lounge."

Lissa followed behind Denise, grabbing her arm as they walked. Denise walked out to the lounge wondering the entire time why any of this was happening.

* * *

**Deaths:**

**Amy Marshall - The Tyrant  
Allen Philips - The Reverend**

**AN: I haven't come up with a name for chapter 11, so I'll give a different tease for the next chapter. I'm coming close to the end of the story, so in the next chapter a killer will be revealed. Maybe the only killer, maybe not!**

**To ****JWEarl**: I don't want to go too much into detail about the killer(s) at this point, but victims are easier. Early victims were pretty much in the story to be victims, and the timing of their deaths is related more to the opportunities that I could create in the story line at the time of their deaths.

**In the past several chapters, the character that have died were more important to the story, so I knew I had to get to certain situations to create the right murders. As an example of this, I knew I had to have a bachelor party to create the scenario for Bruce's death in the last chapter. Bruce's death was not the only reason for having a bachelor party on the island, but it was a primary reason.**

**I have known the ending of the story (the killer(s), the survivors) since before I began the story, and am still on track for that ending. I've also known the killer(s) motive and that certain things have had to occur in the story for the motive to make sense. Obviously, killing this number of people on an island is beyond any reasonable motive, but I hope the motive that I have come up with makes some sense in the end. You'll have to let me know!**

**Also, I had the order of the deaths and the contents of each chapter decided upon before I started. Only in chapter 8 until now have I been thrown off plan. My original versions of chapters 8 and 9 (and the beginning of 10) had to be significantly rewritten because the original story and deaths didn't end up working right. After I'm done with the story, I'll try and explain what the original death order was and why I changed it.**

**Hopefully, my rambling, self-indulgent statement has answered your question. Thanks again for reading and reviewing, and I look forward to future chapters of **_**Green Villa**_**!**


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